COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Golden West Hits OCC and Record Book Hard

COSTA MESA —  Gary Christopherson hit three home runs to set a Golden West College single-game record and Mark Magrann had five hits to tie a school record in a 16-11 victory over Orange Coast in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Saturday at Orange Coast.

Christopherson, the designated hitter, homered in his last at-bat Thursday and in his first three plate appearances Saturday. He had hit five home runs in eight at-bats before grounding out in the sixth. He also grounded out in the eighth.

The freshman was three for five with seven runs batted in Saturday and has a team-high eight home runs this season.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” Christopherson said. “I was just trying to make contact and hit the ball hard. . . . I was a little lucky also.”

In the first inning, he drove a fastball over the left-field fence for a three-run home run and a 4-0 Golden West lead.

In the third, he hit a curveball for a two-run home run to increase Golden West’s advantage to 8-0.

And in the fourth, he hit a changeup for another two-run home run to put the Rustlers ahead, 11-0.

Golden West Coach Bert Villarreal was far from confident, though, having watched his team blow five-run leads twice in the past week. His fears were quickly realized.

Orange Coast scored four times in the fifth inning and seven times in the sixth, capped by Sid Maldonado’s three-run home run to tie the score, 11-11.

Golden West returned to fundamentals to take the lead.

Eric Crocker singled to open the seventh and moved to second on a sacrifice by Steve McKowen. Magrann then came through with a single to right, driving in Crocker and put Golden West ahead, 12-11.

Magrann, a sophomore catcher, added another RBI single in the ninth to make it 13-11.

Robb Carabba had a run-scoring double and Mike Willey singled home two runs as the Rustlers scored four times in the ninth to take a 16-11 lead.

Golden West (21-6 overall, 12-5 in conference) had 21 hits, including Magrann’s five and three each by Christopherson, Crocker and Gerad Cawhorn.

Tony Spaan, Corey Parker and Chris Hutchins had three hits apiece for Orange Coast (12-17, 5-11), which totalled 15.

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Saddleback 7, Riverside 4--Pat Norville (4-1) allowed three runs over the first five innings and Vince Merk (three innings) and Andy Hallock combined to finish for host Saddleback (10-15, 4-12).

Buster Nietzke hit a two-run home run in the fifth to give Saddleback a 4-3 lead. Jason Thompson hit a solo home run and a sacrifice fly and Neil Carter had three hits and an RBI for Saddleback. Ted Savage also had an RBI double for the Gauchos. Riverside is 21-11, 9-8.

Cypress 6, Fullerton 5--Kevin Cook hit a grand slam in the eighth to give Cypress (17-14, 6-10) a 6-4 lead at Fullerton. Cook finished with two hits and five RBIs. Fullerton is 17-11, 8-8.