Gauchos Among Final Eight in Men’s State Tournament

Saddleback College will make its first trip to the final eight of the state community college men’s basketball tournament in five years following a 72-68 victory over Ventura Saturday in the Southern California Regional finals.

Host Saddleback (32-2) was led by Adrian Aguayo’s 19 points. Kevin Williams added 13 points and six rebounds and Mark Brown had 10 points and seven assists. Desmond Penigar led Ventura (24-9) with 19 points and nine rebounds.

Saddleback, which ran its winning streak to 27 games, will face a Northern California opponent in the state quarterfinals Thursday at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

In a women’s Southern California Regional final:

Riverside 86, Santa Ana 84--Angela Romagnoli scored 26 points as visiting Riverside (27-9) advanced to the state tournament quarterfinals Thursday at Delta College in Stockton. The Tigers overcame a 16-point second-half deficit to end a seven-game losing streak to Santa Ana (25-7). Acheve Barre led the Dons with 19 points.

In Orange Empire Conference baseball:

Fullerton 4, Golden West 2--Mike Montanio led off the eighth inning with a home run to break a 2-2 tie and win it for visiting Fullerton (8-6, 2-1). Michael Sarmiento earned the win with 1 2/3 innings of one-hit relief for the Hornets.

Orange Coast 7, Irvine Valley 2--After being held scoreless for four innings, the Pirates (13-5, 2-1) broke the game open with two runs in the fifth, three in the sixth and two in the seventh. Greg Trimble and Glen Hedgpeth had run-scoring singles in the fifth to give Orange Coast a 2-1 lead and Brian Murphy and Josh McCanne had run-scoring singles in the sixth.

Brent Erickson came on in relief in the third and pitched through the eighth to pick up the victory. Steve Sirbu had a run-scoring double in the third to give Irvine Valley (5-11, 0-3) an early lead.

Santa Ana 6, Saddleback 3--Tony Alcantar had three hits and scored two runs and Thomas Duarte hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning, giving Santa Ana (10-3, 2-1) a 6-1 lead.

Zach Dobek was two for four, including his fifth home run of the season, for Saddleback (13-3, 2-1).