Cypress Takes Los Lagos, Riverside Victorious at Victoria

Cypress won the Orange Empire Conference match at Costa Mesa's Los Lagos course last Wednesday to create a three-way tie for second place in the conference standings which was quickly broken less than a week later at Victoria Country Club in Riverside.

The Chargers created the log jam in the standings by posting a team score of 365 on the Los Lagos course at the Costa Mesa Country Club as Dylan Hall posted a 4-under-par 68.  Alec Montalbo was even-par at 72 and Claudio Phillips (pictured) carded a 73 to get the Chargers back in the hunt for a playoff berth.  

Saddleback (374) finished second in the event as Nick Prudhomme carded a season-best 71 while Troy Ditzler added a 73 and Jack Lutz threw in a 74.  Santiago Canyon (375) was a stroke back as Austin Trcka posted a 71 and Ryan Mendoza finished at even-par 72.  Host Orange Coast (377) placed fourth and gave up some ground in the conference standings.  Connor Hurst paced the Pirates with a 74.

The teams barely got a chance to pound off the spikes before it was back onto the course at Victoria CC in Riverside for another conference match on Monday.  Host Riverside captured the team title at home with a score of 371 as Jordan Sams posted an even-par round of 72.  Tiger teammate Everett Najera added a 73 while Paul Bradvica and Dylan Boughton each posted scores of 75 as Riverside tries to catch back up to the pack in the conference standings.  The Tigers (19-21) are five wins out of second place with three rounds remaining. 

Orange Coast and Saddleback each shot 382 at Victoria, with OCC getting the nod for second-place points when it came down to the sixth man score, 80-85.  A trio of Pirates posted 75's on the day - Hurst, Austin Briggs, and Jordan Meas.  Saddleback was led by Lutz with a 73 while Prudhomme and Alex Diaz each carded 75's.  Cypress (384) was two shots back and Santiago Canyon (386) was four shots back in another closely contested match.  Phillips shared medalist honors with a 72 for Cypress while Santiago Canyon was paced by James Hochsprung's 75.

Orange Coast (32-8) remains atop the conference standings with Saddleback (24-16) taking a slight lead over Cypress (23-17) and Santiago Canyon (22-18) in the race for second place.

All six teams will converge on the Oak Creek course next Wednesday (April 13) for the final regular-season match before playing in the one-day, 36-hole conference championship at Los Serranos (Chino Hills) on Monday, April 25.