Santa Ana Scores 6 in Eighth to Defeat First-Place Cypress

Josh Shaffer had a key two-run double during Santa Ana’s six-run eighth inning as the Dons rallied to beat Cypress, 14-11, in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Thursday at Santa Ana.

Richard Lane had two doubles and a single and drove in three runs also for Santa Ana (22-12, 8-7).

Cypress loaded the bases in the ninth with two outs but reliever Michael Natale got a fly out to end the game. The Chargers (23-10-1, 10-5) won their first six conference games but are 4-5 since.

Riverside (21-11, 9-6) scored three runs in the seventh to beat visiting Golden West, 6-5, and move within a game of Cypress.

In another conference game:

Orange Coast 11, Fullerton 8--Visiting Orange Coast (21-14, 8-7) scored four runs (all unearned) in the ninth to go ahead, 11-7.

Fullerton got a run in and had two on when the game ended.

Ryan Clark, Chris Lewis and Kris Hernandez had run-scoring singles in the ninth for OCC, which has won nine of 10. It was also the third consecutive game in which OCC has rallied in the final three innings for a victory.

OCC’s Brandon Thompson hit his conference-leading 13th home run.

At the Orange Empire Conference women’s tennis tournament:

Jaeger, Amos advance--Top-seeded Camilla Jaeger of Orange Coast and third-seeded Karen Amos of Saddleback will meet in the singles final at 2 p.m. today at Fullerton College.

Jaeger beat Coral Conley of Riverside, 6-1, 6-4, and Amos defeated Sarah Barnum of Fullerton, 6-2, 6-3, in the semifinals.