Orange Coast College Wins Fifth-Straight OEC Title

CHINO -- For the fifth straight year, the Orange Coast College men's golf team wraps up the 2014 regular season on top of the mountain.

Fighting off a determined Santiago Canyon team, the Pirates made it five straight Orange Empire Conference championships in a row as they edged the Hawks in Monday's two-round OEC finals, played at Los Serranos Country Club.

Coast (50-10 in conference matches) entered Monday's matches with a one-victory lead over SCC (49-11), but a strong opening round by the Hawks pulled them even with Coast with one afternoon round left to play.

Santiago Canyon came out shooting for the flags right from the opening group and carded a team total of 18-under-par, 352 on the par-74 South Course. Coast, which shot a very respectable 2-under, 368, finished second, putting both teams tied for the OEC lead heading into the final round.

On the par-72 North Course, the Pirates continued their strong play and edged out the Hawks with a 1-over-par 361, three shots better than the Hawks' score of 364. That win gave Coast the one-match win and the OEC title for the fifth consecutive year.

Marc Reyes led the Pirates in both rounds on Monday. He carded a 5-under-par, 69 in the morning and followed that up with the lowest round of the afternoon -- a 7-under 65.

Zach Olson (73-73) fired an even-par 146 for the two rounds, while Michael Chen (75-75) and Zach Eddy (78-72) each carded 4-over 150s for the Pirates.

Other two-round scores for Coast included Zac Lauderdale (75-76-151) and Jem Young (76-76, 152).

Up next for the Pirates will be the Southern California Regional Championships, which is a two-round competition set for StoneRidge Country Club in Poway on Monday, beginning at 7:30 a.m. OCC is the defending SoCal Regional champions after edging out College of the Canyons at Costa Mesa Country Club in 2013.

ORANGE EMPIRE CONFERENCE RECAP

The Orange Coast College men's golf team captured the Orange Empire Conference title on Monday in dramatic fashion at the Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills.

The Pirates (50-10 in conference matches) had a one-victory lead going into the 36-hole conference championship but Santiago Canyon (49-11) caught Orange Coast in the conference standings during morning round.  That left all of the drama up to which team would capture the afternoon round and the conference title.

Orange Coast was led by Marc Reyes' 7-under-par 65 on the North Course with Zach Eddy adding an even-par 72 to help OCC post a team score of 1-over-par 361.  Santiago Canyon had Nico Mendoza, Tanner Dice, and Jonathan Collins each enter the clubhouse with 1-under-par 71's, but it wouldn't balance Reyes' round and the Hawks ended up with an afternoon team score of 364.

Santiago Canyon was on fire in the morning round, posting a five-man team score of 18-under par 352.   Byron  Busse paced the Hawks with a 10-under par 64 while Mendoza added a 6-under-par 68 and Matt Lines finished at 2-under-par 72.  Dice and Collins both shot even-par rounds of 74.  That team score helped Santiago Canyon climb back into a tie with Orange Coast in the team standings heading into the afternoon round and the final match of the conference schedule.  Orange Coast, which held a one match lead heading into the championship event, posted a team score of 2-under-par 368 with the help of Reyes' 5-under-par 69 and Zach Olson's 1-under-par 73.

Mendoza was named as the conference's Player of the Year after finishing the season with a 71.2 stroke average.  He was joined on the all-conference team by Santiago Canyon teammates Busse, Collins, and Dice.  Michael Chen was the only Orange Coast golfer to make the all-conference list while the Riverside City College trio of Eric Cross, Chad Hambright, and Clay Hjulberg were honored.  Cypress golfer Spencer Wilde and Saddleback's Drew Bradley completed the all-conference list.  These 10 individuals will play in next Monday's CCCAA men's golf southern regional championship at the StoneRidge Country Club course in Poway.   Spencer Saunders of Cypress, Jake Reimers of Saddleback, and Nate Noblitt of Irvine Valley also qualified as individuals for the regional championship.  Santiago Canyon, Orange Coast, and Riverside qualified their entire teams for the regional championship.