Community College Baseball Regional Playoffs : Rancho Santiago Beats Palomar to Advance to State Playoffs : Tellers’ Pitching, Hamelin’s Hitting Provide the Punch

Rancho Santiago College reached the state tournament with a 9-0 victory over Palomar Sunday in a Southern California Regional baseball game at Rancho Santiago.

Rancho Santiago (37-7) had little trouble beating Palomar (29-13), which was playing its fourth game in three days. It was the third game in three days for Rancho Santiago.

Rancho Santiago, the state’s top-ranked team, advances to the four-team, double-elimination state tournament Friday at UC Irvine. It will play De Anza at 7 p.m. in the first round. Cerritos plays Sacramento City in the other first-round game at 3 p.m.

David Tellers, sophomore right-hander, allowed seven singles and had seven strikeouts and no walks for the victory Sunday. Tellers (11-1) was in trouble only once. He allowed three singles in the seventh, but on the third hit, Clint Cruz rounded third base too far and was thrown out by catcher Joey Townsend.

Rancho Santiago also displayed its usual power--Bobby Hamelin. Hamelin hit his 29th home run of the season in the first inning with a runner on to increase his state record for home runs. He also has a state-record 98 RBIs. He is hitting .509 with 79 hits, has scored 80 runs and has 57 walks in 44 games.

Rancho Santiago led, 3-0, after three innings and added six runs in the sixth. Eight of the nine starters had at least one hit and scored a run for Rancho Santiago, which had 13 hits. Mark RingKamp (10-6) gave up 9 runs and 11 hits in 5 innings to take the loss.

“For some reason, and I have no reason to feel this way, I was super confident coming in,” said Don Sneddon, Rancho Santiago coach. “We had one of our aces on the hill and Palomar was hot and tired. They are a good team and we were lucky to catch them this way.”

Palomar lost to Los Angles Harbor, 14-13, Friday but came back to beat Oxnard, 6-5, and Harbor, 12-2, Saturday.

Rancho Santiago needed a two-out, two-run double in the ninth inning from Todd Lloyd to beat Oxnard, 6-5, Friday and had little trouble with Harbor, 11-3, Saturday. Jack Bailey threw a complete game Friday. Willie Navarrette worked 7 and Brett Snyder worked the final 1 innings Saturday.

“Lloyd’s hit was the key to the whole weekend,” Sneddon said. “That set it up for us, then we played well Saturday and Sunday. The only negative I can see is that we didn’t get the bullpen some work. But if that’s the only negative, then I can live with it.”

Nick Santa Cruz singled with one out in the first, and Hamelin followed with his home run on a 2-0 pitch. Hamelin, a left-handed hitter, reached across the plate and popped the ball over the left-field fence, 355 feet away. It was the second time in three games Hamelin has hit an opposite field home run.

“Teams are pitching me away, so I have to go that way,” Hamelin said. “They are cheap home runs but I’ll take them.”

Hamelin lined a a single to center field to open the sixth, then stole second base. He is 11 for 11 on stolen-base attempts this season. Rich Gonzales then had an RBI single to score Hamelin who knocked over Palomar catcher Mike Simmons, freeing the ball.

Lloyd, the only Rancho Santiago starter without a hit, grounded out to second, but the Dons followed with five consecutive hits. Mike Gonzales had an RBI single and stole second.

Joey Townsend had an RBI single and Danny Ontiveros bunted for a single. Ed Luna doubled to right field to score two and Kraig Washington hit a single to score Luna but was throw out trying to advance to second base. Santa Cruz popped up to end the inning.