COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL : Rancho Santiago Increases Lead to 2 1/2 Games

Rancho Santiago defeated Golden West, 7-3, Tuesday to increase its lead to 2 1/2 games over second-place Riverside in the Orange Empire Conference baseball standings.

Jay Hassel (3-1) pitched 7 1/3 innings for the victory and J.J. Thobe struck out two in the final 1 2/3 innings to earn his ninth save for the visiting Dons (33-7, 14-5 in conference).

Raul Rodarte’s two-run double in the sixth gave Rancho Santiago a 5-2 lead, and Steve Grack added a first-inning home run. Rodarte, Robin Lindsey, Octavio Medina and Jeremy Sherman each had two hits.

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Saddleback 7, Cypress 5--Last-place Saddleback scored four runs in the sixth inning to rally at home. Brian Walker capped the inning with a two-run single and Pat Norville (1-2) allowed only three singles in seven innings of relief pitching for the Gauchos (13-21, 5-15).

Orange Coast 3, Fullerton 2--With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, OCC’s Greg Fife singled off Jayson Nester to drive in Steve Hernandez with the winning run. Chad Rolish (7-2) won his fourth in a row.