COLLEGE ROUNDUP : At Last, SCC Defeats Azusa Pacific in Baseball

It took four times, some creative bunting and a near game-ending brawl, but Southern California College finally figured out a way to beat Azusa Pacific’s baseball team this season.

The Vanguards knocked off visiting Azusa Pacific, 4-3, Saturday to salvage a split in a Golden State Athletic Conference doubleheader. Azusa Pacific won the opener, 8-4, in 11 innings after SCC squandered a two-run lead in the ninth.

SCC (16-14, 5-5) dropped a doubleheader to Azusa Pacific (22-4-1, 8-1) earlier this season.

“We finally got one,” said SCC Coach Charlie Phillips, who was not pleased with how the last game closed.

The final inning of the second game began with SCC leading, 4-2. Azusa Pacific put runners on first and second with one out against SCC starting pitcher Jeff Beckley. Pinch-hitter Mark Landeros then chopped a ball to third baseman Albert Contrera, who tagged out the runner heading to third before throwing wildly to first while trying to double up Landeros.

First baseman Ted Wieczorek tracked down the ball and then threw to the plate to try to get Ismael Sanchez, who started the play at first base but was coming around to score on the wild throw.

Sanchez appeared to be out at the plate, and SCC started celebrating. But Sanchez was ruled safe, making it a 4-3 game. In the confusion, SCC catcher David Seeley alertly noticed Landeros had wandered off first base. SCC got Landeros in a run down and he went hard back into first base as he was tagged out to end the game.

Tempers from both sides immediately flared, and both coaching staffs had to hold back their players to keep a major brawl from erupting.

Azusa Pacific Coach Tony Barbone downplayed the incident, attributing it to the teams’ intense rivalry. But Phillips did some finger pointing.

“They got beat. So what?” Phillips said. “We finally get a game, so they’re mad? We’re two Christian schools, but we didn’t look like it.”

SCC looked like a bunting school early in the second game. The Vanguards scored three times in the first two innings, thanks in part to five bunts. Beckley, meanwhile, held Azusa Pacific to three hits, yielding two runs in the fifth and the run in the last inning.

The first game was a pitching duel between Azusa Pacific’s John Brookman and SCC’s Ryan Meredith. But Meredith walked two batters in the ninth inning and was unable to hold a two-run lead. Phillips pulled Meredith after 10 innings, and the Cougars tagged relievers Aguie Pena and Matt Imus for four runs in the 11th.

“They are always tough here,” Barbone said. “We’ve been lucky this season. We weren’t in the last game.”

In other conference games:

Point Loma Nazarene 4-5, Christ College Irvine 1-2--Greg Eidson hit two home runs and had four RBIs to lead the Crusaders (21-10-1) to a doubleheader sweep. Mike Crumrine and Barrett Bernard each had three hits for CCI (9-17-2) in the first game.

In a nonconference game:

UC Santa Barbara 3, Chapman 1--Chris Johnson, from Villa Park High School and Fullerton College, hit a two-run home run for UC Santa Barbara (12-18-1) at Hart Park in Orange. Octavio Medina had an RBI for Chapman (17-17).

At the Fresno State Lexus Golf Classic:

UC Irvine finishes 11th--Kevin Yamauchi shot a one-over 73 in the final round at Fort Washington Country Club to finish 17th with a seven-over 223 to lead the Anteaters to an 11th-place finish.

Scott Peterson of Colorado won the tournament by two strokes, firing a final round four-under 68 to finish the tournament three-under par. Jorgen Aker and Kevin Clayborn of UCLA finished second and third to help the Bruins win the team title by four strokes.

In Big West Conference softball:

Cal State Fullerton 0-9, Utah State 2-3--Rose Garces had two hits and three RBIs and Miki Mangan had two RBIs, including a home run for Fullerton in the second game. Cheryl Longeway allowed three hits in five innings to earn the victory for the Titans. Denise DeWalt had four hits and three runs scored in the doubleheader for Fullerton.

In the UC Irvine-Marriott Classic men’s tennis tournament:

UC Irvine 6, South Alabama 1--No. 24 Irvine put itself in position to win its seventh Classic title, but first since 1988, with the semifinal victory over No. 25 South Alabama.

Irvine will play seventh-ranked Alabama Birmingham, a 5-2 winner over Harvard, in the final at 1 p.m. today at the UCI Tennis Stadium.

Chris Tontz was beaten, 6-0, 7-6, at No. 1 singles by 66th-ranked Jan Hermansson for the Anteaters’ only loss.