The Orange Coast College men's golf team has a comfortable lead in the Orange Empire Conference standings as all six teams prepare for the upcoming OEC Championship which will be held on Monday, April 25, at the Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills.

The Pirates (35-10) will capture the OEC men's golf title if they don't finish last in both rounds of the one-day, 36-hole championship.  The real battle is for second place in the conference standings as Santiago Canyon (27-18) has a slight edge over both Saddleback (25-20) and Cypress (25-20) while defending conference champion Riverside (23-22) is still in the hunt for the runner-up spot.

The top three teams in the final OEC standings will advance to the Southern California Regional Championship which will take place on Monday, May 9, at the Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta.  The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) state championship will be the following Monday, May 16, at the Desert Island Golf and Country Club in Palm Springs.

Individually, Marcus De La Rosa (591, pictured) of Orange Coast has a six stroke lead over the rest of the pack in his quest for the conference medalist honors.  De La Rosa is averaging 73.9 strokes per round.  Austin Trcka of Santiago Canyon (597) is averaging 74.6 strokes per round while Michael Lascari (602) of Santiago Canyon is another five strokes back and averaging 75.3 strokes per round.  Paul Bradvica (Riverside) and Dylan Hall (Cypress) are another five strokes back (607) and averaging 75.9 strokes through eight conference rounds.

The Los Serranos courses have given OEC golfers plenty of challenges this year.  The 2016 season kicked off with the OEC Tee-Off Classic on the same Los Serranos course and 25 of the conference's 36 golfers which participated in that event posted their highest scores of the season at Los Serranos.  James Hochsprung of Santiago Canyon carded a 1-under-par 71 on the north course during the second day of that event for the only under-par round of the Tee-Off Classic.  It was also Hochsprung's best round of the season.