Seventh-inning rally sparks Pirates in 5-4 win over Jaguars

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College baseball team picked up some much-needed support from a couple of role players to earn a hard-fought 5-4 win over Southwestern College in Friday's Southern California Sectional playoff opener at Wendell Pickens Field.

The top-seeded Pirates (32-9) trailed 4-1 after four innings and with starter David Hill struggling, Coast turned to righty reliever David Wilson, who had only thrown 16 1/3 innings out of the bullpen. Wilson (1-2) came through, throwing four innings of scoreless relief, allowing just three hits, one walk and two strikeouts.

"We've had a lot of guys throw well this year and for David, he hasn't gotten many opportunities this year, but he got the job done when we needed him," OCC head coach John Altobelli said. "That was a great job of keeping us in the game and allowing our offense to battle back."

That offense came in the form of a four-run seventh inning, which enabled the Pirates to take a 1-0 lead over the ninth-seeded Jaguars (29-13) in this best-of-three playoff. 

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Daniel Delaney walked and pinch-hitter Ryan Perez followed with an RBI-triple to left-center, cutting the deficit to 4-2.

Perez then took advantage of a passed ball and scored to make it 4-3. 

Jake Thumm followed with a walk and Robert Longtree singled to center, putting runners on first and second. A chopper to third off the bat of Cody Bruder was mishandled, loading the bases. L. Grant Davis followed with a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Thumm to tie the game at 4.

Jaguars' starter Deandre Simpson (5-4) was replaced by Dylan McDonald and he was greeted with an RBI-single to right-center by Cody Nulph, scoring Longtree to give the Pirates a 5-4 advantage.

Things got a bit tense for the Pirates in the top of the ninth. Reliever Dominic Purpura allowed singles to Roman Garcia and Daniel Macias, putting runners on first and third with one out. Closer Joe Reta replaced Purpura and worked out of the jam by allowing a ground ball to third and a ground to Davis at second, stranding the runners on the corners.

The Jags, who outhit the Pirates, 12-7, were led by Daniel Goodrich (2-for-4, two runs, one RBI), Macias (2-for-4, one run), Chris Allen (2-for-5), Wyatt Miller (2-for-4, one run) and Lobert Lucero (2-for-3).

With Coast behind, 4-0, Chris Iriart ripped his state-leading ninth home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth to put Coast on the scoreboard.

After scoring single runs in the first and second innings, SWC used a triple by Miller, an RBI-single by Goodrich and a throwing error by the Pirates to score two more runs off of Hill to make it 4-0. But Hill battled through the frame and did not allow another runner to score, keeping the Pirates close.

Game 2 of this best-of-three series will take place on Saturday, beginning at 12 p.m. at Wendell Pickens Field.

GAME NOTES -- With his hit in the bottom of the sixth, Nulph extended his current hitting streak to 26 games ... this was the third meeting between the two teams this year. SWC won 6-5 at Coast on Feb. 11 and the Pirates won, 4-0, at Southwestern on Feb. 25. Projected starters for both teams on Saturday are Kevin Ginkel (8-2, 2.38 ERA) for the Jaguars and Art Vidro (6-3, 2.55 ERA) for the Pirates.