Pirates rally, but fall to Rustlers in 10

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College baseball team rallied from a pair of deficits, but could not come all the way back in a 5-4, 10-inning loss to visiting Golden West College on Tuesday at Wendell Pickens Field.

The Pirates (12-9, 3-3 in Orange Empire Conference), who trailed 3-0 after four innings and 4-3 in the ninth, struggled against GWC reliever Josh Gogue (3-2) as the Rustlers pushed across the winning run in the top of the 10th.

Gianni Castillo, who finished 2-for-5 with two RBI, came through with a two-out, RBI-single to center off of hardluck reliever Dominic Purpura (2-1) to give GWC the lead for good.

Purpura took the loss, despite allowing just two runs (one earned), five hits, no walks and three strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings of relief.

Gogue, who came into the game for starter Nick Hellman, allowed one run, three hits, one walk and six strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings to collect the win.

It looked like smooth sailing for Hellman early on as the Rustlers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. While the GWC offense went to work, Hellman retired the first 12 batters he faced before allowing a leadoff single to Jack Kruger to start the fifth. Kruger went to second on a single by Cole Rutherford, advanced to third on a single by Stephen Corona and scored on an RBI-ground out by James McLellan, cutting the deficit to 3-1.

Coast would get even in the bottom of the sixth. An infield single by Cheneng Varela and a hit-by-pitch by Tommy Bell put runners on first and second with one out. Kruger stepped up and delivered a double to left-center to score Varela and cut the GWC lead down to one at 3-2.

Gogue came into the game a struck out the first batter he faced, but uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Bell to score, which tied the game at 3.

GWC regained the lead in the top of the seventh, with a bit of controversy. Back-to-back singles by James Stea and Dillon Persinger put runners on first and second with one out. One batter later, Persinger broke for second, while Stea did not. Stea saw Persinger go and broke late for third base. Kruger behind the plate threw to third and despite Stea sliding directly into the glove of McLellan at third, the runner was called safe by the bases umpire. Philip Knapp then lifted a potentially inning-ending fly ball to right which scored Stea, giving the Rustlers a 4-3 lead.

But Coast battled back in the bottom of the ninth when Stefan Panayiotou looped a double to shallow left and scored on an RBI-single by Cole Rutherford, who advanced to second on the throw home. Corona was intentionally walked with one out, but Gogue worked his way out of the jam with a pair of fly-ball outs to end the inning.

In the 10th, a misplayed bunt by Purpura set the wheels in motion for a Rustlers' win. Chris Williams followed with a single to left, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Jordan Lucio tried a sacrifice bunt, but Kruger fired to McLellan at first to retire the lead runner. Purpura got Michael Fuchs to fly out to center for the second out, but Castillo delivered the big blow, lining a single to center to give GWC a 5-4 lead.

The Pirates would get a two-out single by Tommy Bell in the bottom of the 10th, but nothing more as Gogue finished things off.

Coast will return to Wendell Pickens Field on Thursday against Saddleback, beginning at 2 p.m.