Pirates take over first place in OEC with 9-3 win over Dons
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Orange Coast | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 0 |
|
Santa Ana | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
SANTA ANA -- The Orange Coast College baseball team took over sole possession of first place in the Orange Empire Conference on Saturday after earning a 9-3 win over Santa Ana at Don Sneddon Field.
Coast (16-9, 7-3 in OEC) grabbed the top spot after Fullerton College lost to visiting Golden West, 5-4, on Saturday, dropping the Hornets into a tie for second place with Cypress at 6-4. Saddleback, Golden West and Irvine Valley are all 5-5 and just two games behind the Pirates, while Riverside (4-6) and Santa Ana (2-8) round out the eight-team conference lineup.
In Saturday's win over the Dons, Coast took advantage of the scoring opportunities with productive at-bats. Four of OCC's runs were scored with sacrifice flies, while two more came home via bases-loaded walks and another came from a SAC throwing error.
In fact, only Cole Rutherford and Jeff Nellis actually drove in runs with hits. Rutherford's came on an RBI-double to left in Coast's three-run fourth inning, while Nellis added a double to center in the eighth.
Nellis finished with a pair of sacrifice flies and three RBI for the afternoon, while Rutherford went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI. Jack Kruger and Nick Grimes each went 2-for-5 with two runs and Tommy Bell added a hit and two runs scored for the Pirates, winners of four straight.
James McLellan (1-0) pitched 3 1/3 innings of relief to pick up the win, allowing no runs on two hits with two strikeouts. Dominic Purpura threw the final three innings for his conference-best sixth save of the season.
The Pirates and Dons will wrap up their three-game season series on Tuesday at OCC, beginning at 2 p.m.
