Fullerton

BASEBALL Orange Coast 8, Fullerton 7 FULLERTON - Boog Powell, Joel Licon and Chris Carlson were a combined five for 10 with six runs batted in to pace the visiting Pirates in the Orange Empire Conference game Tuesday. Sophomore Keegan Yuhl yielded 11 hits and five runs (three earned) in 5 2/3 innings, but earned the win and is now 9-0. Bijan Rademacher worked a perfect ninth to earn his first save in his mound debut. OCC (25-3-1, 12-2 in conference)

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL Orange Coast def. Fullerton COSTA MESA - Karlee Riggs recorded 33 kills and Allison Lumsden amassed 64 assists to lead the Pirates to a 25-17, 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-8 Orange Empire Conference win Friday. OCC (11-2, 6-1 in conference) is ranked No. 12 in the state and the Hornets (10-4, 4-3) are No. 7. Morgan Link had 11 kills and Isabel Emrich added 10 kills for the Pirates. * UC Irvine def. UC Davis IRVINE - Shaina Olsen had 19 kills to help the Anteaters to a 21-25, 25-19, 25-13, 30-28 Big West Conference win Friday.

COSTA MESA — Orange Coast College women's basketball coach Mike Thornton acknowledged before Wednesday's showdown with visiting Fullerton that an inordinate amount of good fortune had helped the Pirates remain in contention for an Orange Empire Conference title. But the resounding 70-53 title-clinching victory by the Hornets (26-2, 11-0 in conference), ranked No. 1 in the state, proved it can often be better to be good than lucky. OCC (22-7, 9-2), ranked No. 6 in Southern California and No. 10 in the state, had some early magic, riding a 9-0 run to a 9-3 lead and clinging to a 22-21 deficit with 7:23 left in the first half.

FULLERTON - Lack of hitting and defense was too much for the Orange Coast College softball team to overcome in Friday's 8-0 five-inning loss to host Fullerton in Orange Empire Conference action Friday. Noelle Espinoza had the Pirates' lone hit as the Pirates (14-17, 3-8 in conference) committed six errors in the game. The Hornets (28-4, 10-1) turned a 2-0 lead into a mercy win with a six-run fifth inning. OCC will travel to Mission Viejo to take on Saddleback Monday at 3 p.m. ORANGE EMPIRE CONFERENCE Fullerton 8, Orange Coast 0 Orange Coast 000 00 - 0 1 6 Fullerton 010 16 - 8 9 0 Ortega, Espinoza (5)

Colleges column by BarryOrange Coast College men's basketball coach Steve Spencer acknowledges the buzz surrounding his team's Orange Empire Conference showdown at Fullerton Wednesday night. And while he is glad it exists -- the apathy that often envelopes community college athletics is a dreary alternative -- Spencer would like for it to avoid the attention of his players. "If you start looking at all the hype and people congratulating you, you can get lost as to what you're trying to do," Spencer said.

FULLERTON - The Orange Coast College women's basketball team jumped out to a big lead early and held on for a 65-60 Orange Empire Conference win over host Fullerton Wednesday night. Karyn Fierst led the Pirates with 20 points, while Kiersten Melville added 15 points. Also in double figures for Orange Coast was Jenette Redmond with 11 points and Kristen Urban (Newport Harbor High) with 10. OCC will play at Golden West on Friday beginning at 7:30 p.m. ORANGE EMPIRE CONFERENCE Orange Coast 65, Fullerton 60 Orange Coast - Fierst 20, Melville 15, Redmond 11, Urban 10, Nakano 5, Mojica 4. 3 pt. goals - Redmond 3, Fierst 2, Urban 2. Fouled out - none.

COSTA MESA - Jason Reuss clubbed two home runs and drove in eight runs to lead the Orange Coast College baseball team to a 21-8 Orange Coast Conference win over visiting Fullerton Thursday afternoon. A nine-run seventh inning blew the game open for the Pirates (7-14, 3-7 in conference). OCC and the Hornets will do battle again on Saturday in Fullerton. Game time is at noon. ORANGE EMPIRE CONFERENCE Orange Coast 21, Fullerton 8 Fullerton 022 031 000 - 8 11 1 Orange Coast 331 050 90x - 21 21 3 Rogers, Waroff (5)

IRVINE - There are 24 games remaining in the UC Irvine baseball team's regular season. But after dropping the rubber game of a three-game Big West Conference series against Cal State Fullerton on Sunday, the Anteaters, for the first time since missing the postseason in 2005, may simply be playing out the string. "We're all disappointed, of course we are," UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said after a 5-3 setback to the No. 12-ranked Titans (23-12, 7-2 in conference), who are tied with Long Beach State atop the conference standings after three weeks of Big West play.

COSTA MESA - Orange Coast College sophomore Brandon Brennan outdueled Fullerton counterpart Richard Lucas in a combined pitching gem so rare Thursday, both teams elected to seal it with a handshake. Brennan, who was bettered by Lucas and the Hornets, 5-3, on March 8 to absorb his only loss in eight decisions this season, bested Lucas this time, 1-0, in Orange Empire Conference action at the Pirates' diamond. Both pitchers allowed just three hits in complete-game efforts.

BASEBALL Orange Coast 8, Fullerton 7 FULLERTON - Boog Powell, Joel Licon and Chris Carlson were a combined five for 10 with six runs batted in to pace the visiting Pirates in the Orange Empire Conference game Tuesday. Sophomore Keegan Yuhl yielded 11 hits and five runs (three earned) in 5 2/3 innings, but earned the win and is now 9-0. Bijan Rademacher worked a perfect ninth to earn his first save in his mound debut. OCC (25-3-1, 12-2 in conference)

COSTA MESA - As the outs dwindled in Orange Coast College's 7-5 Orange Empire Conference baseball victory over visiting Santa Ana on Thursday, a conversation in the press box began about who might be the Pirates' hero of the day. After a few moments, it was agreed that there was no singular standout, but rather a confluence of contribution from up and down the lineup, as well as on the mound. Sophomore starting pitcher Keegan Yuhl worked seven solid innings to earn his state-leading eighth win in eight decisions.

FULLERTON - All that was missing was a red, white and blue ball. The eye-catching leather gimmick used once by the American Basketball Assn., which invented the three-pointer, would not have been out of place at Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, where the host Titans outgunned Big West Conference and Orange County rival UC Irvine, 100-94. The Titans (16-7, 8-3 in conference) shot 60% from three-point range (converting nine of 15 attempts, including five of seven after halftime)

WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD New Mexico Invitational ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — UC Irvine completed day one of the invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center Friday. Kelsi Sando tied for third in the high jump with a height of 5-foot-2 ¼ and Sakia Sailinuu was sixth in the 600-meter run in 1 minute, 39.81 seconds. Marie Brashears placed seventh in the 600 meters (1:41.28), Maggie Newton-Neal was eighth (1:41.55) and Chelsea Schneider 10th (1:41.73). Lacey Surak was sixth in the long jump (15-0 ½)

IRVINE - UC Irvine men's basketball coach Russell Turner said visiting Cal State Fullerton was allowed to explode to a 30-point first-half lead because the Anteaters never made the Titans feel them. But after feeling close to invincible in the opening 20 minutes - making 21 of 33 field-goal attempts, including nine of 14 three-point tries and amassing a 22-8 rebounding advantage to claim a 56-30 intermission lead - the Anteaters' Big West Conference and Orange County rivals felt something significantly less comforting down the stretch.

IRVINE — Three city police officers stood back with nothing to do but watch as Occupy Orange County protesters packed up the last of their supplies during Wednesday's peaceful end of nearly three months of overnight occupation at the Civic Center. Tents, tarps, audio equipment, a podium and other well-worn supplies were loaded into cars beginning at 8 a.m. at the corner of Alton Parkway and Harvard Avenue. Supplies will be transferred to a new site, Fullerton City Hall. "It's kind of a bittersweet thing," said J.B. Wagoner, a protester from Temecula.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL Orange Coast def. Fullerton COSTA MESA - Karlee Riggs recorded 33 kills and Allison Lumsden amassed 64 assists to lead the Pirates to a 25-17, 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-8 Orange Empire Conference win Friday. OCC (11-2, 6-1 in conference) is ranked No. 12 in the state and the Hornets (10-4, 4-3) are No. 7. Morgan Link had 11 kills and Isabel Emrich added 10 kills for the Pirates. * UC Irvine def. UC Davis IRVINE - Shaina Olsen had 19 kills to help the Anteaters to a 21-25, 25-19, 25-13, 30-28 Big West Conference win Friday.

FULLERTON - For the first 66 minutes, Wednesday at Cal State Fullerton, it was better to be lucky than good. But the game's most well-deserved goal in the 67th minute proved to be a game-winner for the No. 7-ranked UC Irvine men's soccer team, which came away with a 2-1 Big West Conference victory. The win moves UCI (10-2, 2-1 in conference) into a first-place tie with Cal State Northridge and UC Davis. Both have six points (three points for a win and one for a tie). The Anteaters play host to Northridge, which was idle Wednesday, on Saturday at 7 p.m. After UCI scored when a ball from Jimmy Turner slipped through the grasp of the Titans' goalkeeper in the 13th minute, the Titans cashed in some good fortune of their own, when Michael Denny's cross was deflected by a UCI defender into the net for the equalizer in the 38th minute.