Ward’s Work Paying Off for Rancho Santiago

Matt Ward, a sophomore left-hander, found a way to pitch inside to right-handed hitters this season and it’s paying off.

He pitched his third consecutive complete game Thursday as Rancho Santiago beat visiting Riverside, 13-1, in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game.

Ward gave up eight hits, a walk and struck out six. He also recorded 12 ground outs, eight fly outs and picked off a runner.

Ward (6-0 overall, 4-0 in conference) has given up only two earned runs in his last three games.

One of the major factors in Ward’s success has been a cut fastball that moves in on right-handed hitters. He developed the pitch with the help of pitching coach Dave Bowman.

“I’m not one of those guys that can blow it by guys,” Ward said. “[Before this pitch], I had to always work away to right-handers . . . I’m just keeping the pitches down and trying to stay ahead.”

Rancho Santiago scored three runs in the bottom of the third to take a 5-1 lead. Rancho Santiago (24-1-1, 11-0) got three more in the sixth, two on Erik Sobek’s fourth home run of the season.

Kevin Burford and Rick Gonzalez had three hits each and Eddie Mejia and Sobek each drove in two runs for Rancho Santiago, which has won 11 in row.

In other conference games:

Fullerton 14, Saddleback 13--Curt Lee, normally an infielder, pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save of the season for host Fullerton (15-11, 3-8). Saddleback scored six times in the eighth to take a 13-12 lead, but Fullerton got two runs in the eighth to take the lead again. Saddleback (19-4, 7-4) trails first-place Rancho Santiago by four games.

Cypress 9, Golden West 4--Brian Flanagan had two hits and two runs scored and Craig Kuzmic had a triple and an RBI for visiting Cypress (19-6, 5-4). Chris Carey had three hits and an RBI for Golden West (10-15, 2-9).