Pirates take a pair from Hornets

COSTA MESA -- In back-to-back days, the Orange Coast College baseball team posted back-to-back wins over Fullerton College, topping the Hornets, 5-0 on Thursday at FC and 10-1 on Friday at OCC's Wendell Pickens Field.

In Friday's blowout win, Coast (24-9, 12-7 in Orange Empire Conference) grabbed control of things in the bottom of the eighth, scoring six runs to run away with the win. 

Cody Bruder went 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI, Chris Iriart slugged his state-best eighth home run of the season and scored two runs and Jake Thumm added two hits, two runs and one RBI for the Pirates.

Reliever Dominic Purpura continued his impressive run in the bullpen to pick up his first win of the season (1-0), allowing no runs on three hits with three strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings. For the season, the freshman lefty has allowed no runs over 17 1/3 innings this season with 14 strikeouts.

Coast took advantage of some wildness out of Fullerton starter Josh Bornstein (1-3) in the top of the first. Bruder was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a balk, putting the Pirates up 1-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, two-out singles by Thumm and Robert Longtree were followed with a two-run double to center by Bruder, putting Coast up 3-0.

Fullerton (19-13, 9-10) made it 3-1 when Garrett Valdez doubled to left-center and scored on an RBI-triple by Dakota Wix.

Iriart took advantage of a low off-speed pitch and drove the ball over the left-center field fence in the bottom of the seventh to make it 4-1 before Coast blew things open in the eighth.

RBI-singles by Thumm and Justin Broussard, an RBI-triple by Bruder and a two-run pinch-hit double by Chris Blasing highlighted the six-run, six-hit eighth inning.

In Thursday's 5-0 win, Tommy Bell went 2-for-3 with a three-run home run and David Hill needed only 88 pitches for his complete-game shutout win for the Pirates. Hill (8-1) gave up just five hits with a walk and six strikeouts, lowering his ERA for the season down to 0.89.

Cody Nulph added three hits, a run and an RBI for Coast.

The Pirates will return to action on Friday at home against College of the Desert, beginning at 2 p.m.