Pirates hang on for 5-4 win over Dons

SANTA ANA -- Daniel Delaney went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a run and an RBI to lead the Orange Coast College baseball team to a 5-4 Orange Empire Conference win over Santa Ana College on Tuesday at Don Sneddon Field.

Coast (19-6, 7-4 in Orange Empire Conference) pounded out 13 hits in the win and were supported by Cody Bruder (2-for-5, one RBI), Chris Iriart (2-for-5, solo home run) and Ryan Perez (2-for-4).

After falling behind 2-0, the Pirates pecked away at the Dons (16-8, 7-4), scoring single runs in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings.

Iriart's home run, his fifth of the season, cut the deficit to 2-1 in the second. In the third, L. Grant Davis came through with a two-out, RBI-triple to deep right field, scoring Jake Thumm to tie the game at 2.

Delaney ripped a double to left field in the fourth and four batters later, Bruder came through with an RBI-single to left, putting the Pirates ahead, 3-2.

A two-out, RBI-single off the bat of Cody Bistline tied things up at 3 before the Pirates grabbed the lead for good on one of the most basic plays in baseball.

With the bases loaded and two outs, a between-pitch exchange between the SAC pitcher Logan Roberts and Bistline was mishandled, allowing Tommy Bell to sneak in from third to put Coast out in front, 4-3.

The Pirates, who scored four of their five runs with two outs, made it 5-3 in the top of the seventh when Delaney ripped a double to deep center field, scoring Cody Nulph.

In the bottom of the seventh, an infield single by SAC shortstop Garret Brown scored Alex Mascarenas to make it 5-4. Brown would go 2-for-5 with three RBI to lead the Dons' offense.

The Pirates' defense, which yielded four unearned runs in Saturday's 8-6 home lose to the Dons on Saturday, came up big down the stretch as two Santa Ana runners were thrown out at the plate. In the bottom of the fifth, Ryan Aguilar tripled to right-center, but on a comeback grounder in-between the pitcher and first base, OCC starter Jacob Hill fielded the grounder and threw home to Delaney to retire Aguilar.

In the eighth, with SAC's Cameron Baranek on second base, a dropped third strike got away from Delaney, allowing the batter to reach. On the play, Baranek stole third and made a break for the plate, but Delaney found the loose ball in time and flipped it to pitcher Joe Reta to keep the Pirates ahead, 5-4.

From there, reliever Dominic Purpura retired all four batters he faced to pick up his first save of the season.

Hill improved to 7-0 after allowing three runs on nine hits with one walk and four strikeouts over six innings.

Coast will return to action on Thursday at home against Irvine Valley, beginning at 2 p.m.