Community College Baseball : Southern California Regional : Lloyd Gets Hit to Lift Rancho Santiago, 6-5

Todd Lloyd stepped out from some large shadows with a two-out, two-run double in the ninth inning to lift Rancho Santiago College to a 6-5 victory over Oxnard Friday in a Southern California Regional baseball game at Rancho Santiago.

Lloyd, a sophomore right fielder, was a first team all-Orange Empire Conference selection and hit .404 with 4 home runs and 40 runs-batted in, but his teammates, Bobby Hamelin and Rich Gonzales, have been getting much more recognition. Hamelin hit .521 with 27 home runs and 94 RBIs, and Gonzales hit .460 with 54 RBIs during the regular season.

Oxnard scored four runs in the fourth and added another in the sixth to take a 5-2 lead. But Rancho Santiago rallied with two in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-4.

Kraig Washington reached on a throwing error by shortstop Heath De La Torre to open the ninth. Nick Santa Cruz flied deep to center for the first out, and then Hamelin fouled out for the second out with Washington advancing to second.

Gonzales then hit a slow bouncer to short and beat the throw to first by a step, bring Lloyd to the plate. Lloyd lined a 1-1 pitch to the right-center field fence. Washington scored with ease and Gonzales scored from first without a throw.

“He (Lloyd) has really been one of the unsung heroes all season,” said Don Sneddon, Rancho Santiago coach. “Once Rich got on, we felt very good having him up at the plate.”

Rancho Santiago (35-9) sends freshman left-hander Willie Navarrette (9-0) against Los Angeles Harbor today at noon in the winners’ bracket game. Harbor beat Palomar, 14-13, earlier Friday. Oxnard plays Palomar at 9 a.m. The loser will be eliminated; the winner advances to play the loser of the Harbor-Rancho Santiago game at 3 p.m.

Oxnard took a 4-0 lead in the fourth on an RBI double by Javier Alcaraz and a three-run home run by Sean Luff off starter Jack Bailey. Rancho Santiago came back with a run in the fourth on a single by Gonzales and Lloyd’s RBI double.

In the fifth, Hamelin hit a fly ball that left fielder Mike Runge lost in the shadows along the line for an RBI double.

Alcaraz hit a solo home run off Bailey in the sixth to give Oxnard a 5-2 lead.

Hamelin opened the eighth with a home run, his 28th, over the left-center field fence. Gonzales then doubled to right-center field. Lloyd lined to short for the first out. Mike Gonzales was hit by a pitch, and Joey Townsend hit a single to right, but Rich Gonzales was thrown out at the plate.

Pinch-hitter Brett Snyder then hit a fly to center fielder Alcaraz, who dropped ir for an error and allowed Mike Gonzales to score to cut the lead to 5-4.

Bailey (7-3) got the complete-game victory; Vale Lopez (5-3) went all the way in a losing effort.