Pirates rally in ninth and top Tigers in the 11th, 4-3

COSTA MESA -- There were plenty of heroes for the Orange Coast College baseball team as the Pirates opened Orange Empire Conference play with a dramatic, 4-3, 11-inning win over visiting Riverside City College on Thursday at Wendell Pickens Field.

HERO No. 1 -- With the Pirates trailing, 3-1, in the bottom of the ninth inning, pinch-hitter Stephen Corona ripped a game-tying, two-run home run to right, sending the game to extra innings.

HERO No. 2 -- There, the Pirates overcame a missed opportunity in the 10th and won the game in the 11th on an RBI-single to left by Nick Grimes. 

HERO No. 3 -- With Coast trailing 3-0, sophomore lefty Dominic Purpura came in the game for starter Art Vidrio and threw five scoreless innings to pick up the win (2-0), he allowed just three hits, two walks and four strikeouts to keep the Pirates (10-6, 1-0) in the game.

In a game which the Tigers (12-2, 0-1) controlled from the opening inning, Coast battled throughout the entire game and worked out of several jams along the way.

Riverside used four straight hits in the top of the first to take a 2-0 lead. Coast appeared to trim the deficit to 2-1 when Tommy Bell tripled to center and scored on a fly ball to left by Jack Kruger, but the home plate umpire declared that Bell left third base early and was called out, keeping the Pirates off of the scoreboard.

RCC's David Schuknecht -- who went 2-for-4 with two RBI, came through with an RBI-single in the top of the sixth, putting the Tigers ahead, 3-0.

But the Pirates began to chip away at the deficit against standout lefty Austin Sodders. In the bottom of the seventh, James McLellan came through with a two-out, RBI-single to left, scoring Stefan Panayiotou to make it 3-1. Sodders finished the game allowing one run on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts over seven innings.

It stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the ninth. With Panayiotou on first base and two outs, Corona came into the game and drilled a 2-0 fastball over the right-field fence to tie the game against RCC closer Octavio Lara.

Coast had a golden opportunity to end the game in the bottom of the 10th, loading the bases with nobody out, but reliever David Robles coaxed a 5-2-3 double play and a harmless fly ball to center to get out of the jam.

After a 1-2-3 inning by Purpura (the only 1-2-3 inning allowed by OCC pitching the entire game), Coast went back to work in the bottom of the 11th when Cole Rutherford singled with one out. Corona walked, moving pinch-runner Chris Blasing to second and two batters later, Grimes hit a fly ball to deep left field that just eluded the RCC fielder and allowed Blasing to score the game-winning run.

Robert Longtree went 3-for-4, while teammate Tommy Bell added two hits for the Pirates. Tommy Pincin, Brody Weiss, Israel Fuentes and Anthony Ayala each had two hits for the Tigers. 

The Pirates will return to Wendell Pickens Field on Saturday against Santa Ana College, beginning at 12 p.m.