COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Trachsel Bounces Back to Lead Fullerton

FULLERTON —  Steve Trachsel of Fullerton College went from the bottom of his game to the top last week.

He pitched a five-hitter to lead Fullerton to a 13-3 victory over Golden West in an Orange Empire Conference game Saturday at Fullerton.

The sophomore right-hander improved to 8-3 with the complete game, his fifth in 11 starts.

As impressive as Trachsel was Saturday, he was equally unimpressive Tuesday in an 18-3 loss to Orange Coast. Against OCC, he pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up nine hits and nine runs, seven earned.

“I really don’t know what the difference was,” Trachsel said about the two games. “I felt about the same. Tuesday, I just gave up a lot of 0-2 hits and today I didn’t.”

Trachsel had seven strikeouts and five walks. He also retired the final eight batters he faced and 10 of the last 11.

“I just seem to do better with a lead,” Trachsel said. “That always makes it easier to finish a game.”

Golden West had scored two runs in the first inning, but Fullerton came back with four in the second and three in the third.

Golden West starter Jeff Henderson walked the first three batters in the second. He then threw an 0-2 breaking pitch to Kevin Monson, who doubled down the right-field line to score two runs.

“That was the key hit for us,” Fullerton Coach Nick Fuscardo said. “That is the kind of hit we haven’t been getting, but that was a nice piece of hitting there.”

Henderson (4-1), the losing pitcher, was then replaced by Derek Ogle, who gave up a two-run single to Jim Vleck before getting out of the second inning.

Ogle gave up an RBI double to Jim Short and consecutive RBI singles to Tom Wilson and Jeff Manship in the third and was replaced by David Turner.

Turner and Golden West escaped further damage because of a triple play.

With the bases loaded, Vleck grounded to Turner, who threw to catcher Mark Mcgrann for a force out. Mcgrann threw to first base to get Vleck, and first baseman Josh Bammer threw to third to get Manship, who got a late break off second.

Fullerton added a run in the fourth, three in the fifth and two in the sixth.

The runs in the sixth came on Manship’s home run over the left-field fence after a single by Wilson. It was Manship’s fourth homer.

Manship had two hits and three RBIs and Short, Monson and Vleck each had two hits and two RBIs for Fullerton, which had 12 hits. Fullerton’s Wilson also had two hits and an RBI.

Fullerton (20-12, 10-9) won three of the four conference games it played against Golden West (22-10, 12-7).

The Hornets remain in a third-place tie with Riverside, which defeated Orange Coast, 10-7.

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Riverside 10, Orange Coast 7--Third baseman Curt Callicott hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to extend visiting Riverside’s lead to 9-6 and put the game out of reach. Callicott also had a sacrifice fly and scored three runs for the Tigers. Starter Ben Blomdahl (9-4) was the winner for Riverside (25-12, 10-9). For Orange Coast (14-18, 7-12), center fielder Joe Pence was three for five with two runs scored and two RBIs and right fielder Chris Hutchins had a double and a solo home run, the first homer of his career.

Saddleback 11, Rancho Santiago 9--Jason Thompson hit two two-run home runs and had six RBIs to lead host Saddleback (11-18, 5-14). Tony Wren had a two-run home run and a single and Ted Savage had three hits, scored one run and had an RBI for Saddleback. Steve Grack had three hits, including a home run in the third inning, for Rancho Santiago.