Pirates roll past Vikings, 9-2

LONG BEACH -- The right arm of Brian Bass and the bat of Chris Iriart helped lead the Orange Coast College baseball team to a 9-2 nonconference win over visiting Long Beach City College on Tuesday at Wendell Pickens Field.

Bass (1-0) tossed four innings of no-hit, no-run baseball out of the bullpen for the Pirates, while Iriart went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI for the Pirates (8-2). 

Cody Bruder added a home run to go along with two hits, two runs and an RBI for Coast, while Cody Nulph added two hits, one run and two RBI.

The bats came alive for the Pirates in the middle innings. Trailing 2-1 after three, Coast tacked on two runs in the fourth, three more in the fifth and added a single run in the sixth to blow the game open.

That was more than enough for Bass, who faced just 14 batters in his four innings of work and struck out three along the way. Parker Manahan wrapped the game up with a scoreless ninth.

Tanner Levine (0-1) took the loss for the Vikings after allowing six runs (five earned) on eight hits over four innings. Top hitters for LBCC included Daniel Pitts (2-for-4, one RBI) and Nolan Flashman (1-for-4, one RBI).

LBCC had leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but solo home runs by Bruder and Iriart evened the score both times.

Coast took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth when a throwing error by LBCC catcher Yamel Delgado brought in Daniel Delaney to make it 3-2.

The lead grew to 6-2 in the fifth when a pair of bunt singles by Bruder and Greg Espinosa helped kick-start the Pirates' offense. Nulph followed with an RBI-double to left, scoring Bruder to make it 4-2 and Iriart followed with an RBI-single to right to score Espinosa to make it 5-2. Iriart stole second and the misplayed throw by LBCC second baseman Jake Reinhardt allowed Nulph to score from third to make it 6-2.

Nulph added an RBI-single in the sixth to make it 7-2 before an RBI-triple by Grant Davis and an RBI-single by Iriart in the eighth would close the scoring for the game.

OCC will return to Wendell Pickens Field on Wednesday against College of the Canyons, beginning at 2 p.m.