Community College Baseball : Salaets and Buckels Pitch Three-Hitter

Golden West College’s Larry Salaets and Gary Buckels limited Saddleback to only three hits Thursday as the Rustlers went on to defeat the Gauchos, 3-1, in a South Coast Conference game at Huntington Beach.

Salaets, who at one point retired 12 consecutive batters, pitched seven strong innings to get the win and improve his record to 2-2. Buckels pitched two scoreless innings in relief to earn his fourth save.

Saddleback (3-3 in conference and 9-6 overall) got its only run in the first inning. Dante Scott got a double off Salaets and later scored on Bucky Bollinger’s single.

Golden West (5-2, 11-3-1), however, came right back and took the lead in its half of the first. Shawn Gilbert’s first home run of the season and his first of two hits on the day tied the score at 1-1. Later in the inning, the Rustlers made it 2-1 when Keith Kaub scored on shortstop Bollinger’s error.

The Rustlers got their final run in the fourth inning when Steve Overeem hit a solo home run, his first of the season, off losing pitcher John Sinclair (4-2).

In other South Coast Conference action:

Fullerton 11, Santa Ana 7--In this battle of longtime rivals at Santa Ana, the Hornets (2-4, 14-8) scored three runs in the second, third and sixth innings to offset a great performance by the Dons’ Vince Shinholster.

Shinholster hit a pair of three-run home runs for Santa Ana (3-3, 14-5) but it wasn’t enough as the Dons’ pitching staff collapsed and allowed 15 hits to Fullerton.

After Santa Ana took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on Shinholster’s first home run, Fullerton came back to tie the scored with three runs in the second. The key hit was a two-out, two-run single by Mitch Swalley on an 0-2 pitch off of losing pitcher Gary Pifer (5-2).

Fullerton made it 6-3 with a three-run third as Jeff Oberdank and Corby Oakes had RBI singles. The Hornets added single runs in the fourth and fifth and then took an 11-4 lead in the sixth by scoring three more runs.

Oberdank led the Fullerton offense by going 4 for 5 with five RBIs. Teammate Oakes added three hits and Darren Nelson had a two-run homer. Pat Flynn hit a bases-empty homer to account for Santa Ana’s other run. Bob Hernandez (4-4) worked eight innings to get the win and Rob DeYoung pitched a scoreless ninth to earn a save.

Mt. San Antonio 13, Orange Coast 7--The host Mounties (2-4, 10-7) led by Frank Bellino and Jim McCabe, beat the Pirates (2-5, 9-7) at Walnut.

The game was tied, 7-7, going into the bottom of the fifth inning when Mt. San Antonio scored twice to take the lead for good at 9-7. Bellino was 4 for 6 with an RBI while McCabe was 3 for 6 with two triples and three RBIs for Mt. San Antonio. Fred Tuttle went 2 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs for Orange Coast.

Todd Hayes (3-1) picked up the win in relief for the Mounties and Jeff Goettsch took the loss.

Cypress 23, Compton 4--The Chargers (5-1, 11-5) won their fourth straight by pounding Tartar pitching for 27 hits at Compton. Mark Baca hit two homers for Cypress and James Jackle hit one and went 4 for 4 to move his average near the .500 mark. Brian Leonard (1-1) went five innings to get the win.