Pirates will duel Merced Friday in first round

* BASKETBALL: Orange Coast College’s women’s basketball team (27-7)

will meet Merced (30-6) in the first round of the State Tournament at

the University of San Diego Friday, at 5 p.m.

Coast earned a berth at State with a 55-47 win over Cerritos and a

51-49 victory over Compton.

Merced downed DeAnza, 63-57, and Sacramento City, 68-63, for a

spot in the Final Eight.

The winner will meet the Ventura-Butte winner on Saturday in the

semifinal.

Anteaters lose, 5-3

* BASEBALL: Aztec starter Ben Coon (2-1) pitched a three-run,

six-hit complete game as San Diego State avoided the series sweep

against UC Irvine with a 5-3 win on Sunday in Tony Gwynn Stadium.

The Anteaters got two in the first inning on a Jordan Szabo

sacrifice fly to score Jon Horwitz and a run-scoring single by Matt

Fisher. However, the Aztecs answered in their half of the first,

cutting the lead to one on Curt Mendoza’s RBI double to bring in

Anthony Gwynn.

San Diego State took the lead with three runs in the fourth,

capped by a two-run home run by Reilly Embry. Enbry went 2-3 with two

RBI and a run scored. Jordan Swaydan’s sixth-inning single drove in

Peter Stonard, who hit 2-4 and scored twice.

UCI got a run in the top of the fifth on Danny Miramontes’ double

to bring in Horwitz, but would get no closer.

Coon struck out seven and faced the minimum in five of nine

innings as San Diego State improved to 7-14.

UCI starter Jimmy Alstot was hit with the loss to fall 1-3 after

allowing four runs on seven hits through four innings. With the loss,

the Anteaters fall to 6-12 on the season.

UCI hosts Nevada-Las Vegas Tuesday at 6 p.m.

*--*

Nonconference

San Diego St. 5, UCI 3

Score by Innings

UCI 200 010 000 -- 3 6 1

SD St 100 301 00x -- 5 11 1

Alstot, Schroer (5), Tripoli (6), French

(8) and Werhun; Coon and Swaydan. W --

Coon, 2-1. L -- Alstot, 1-3. 2B --

Miramontes (UCI), Klemm (UCI), Mendoza

(SD), Cook (SD). 3B -- Stonard (SD). HR

-- Embrey (SD)

*--*

Curtis vaults 12-0

* TRACK: UC Irvine sophomore Erin Curtis pole vaulted 12-foot in

the Ben Brown Invitational Saturday at Cal State Fullerton to qualify

her for the NCAA Regionals Championships. Wendy Chan went 2:10.53 in

the 800 meters, missed qualifying by .23. Jenny Liou was fourth in

the 800 at 2:15.08 and Amanda Armstrong was fifth in 2:15.69. Julie

Manson was third in 4:43.04 and Kelli Vanderburg was sixth in 4:46.45

in the 1,500.

In men’s competition, Jules Castano was fifth in the 800

(1:54.30), Ricky Barnes was seventh (1:54.73), and Andrew Garratt was

eighth (1:54.90). Jon Stewart was fourth in the javelin (174-10.