Pirates avoid sweep and top Chargers, 7-2

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College baseball returned to the "win" column after a two-game absence and topped visiting Cypress, 7-2, on Thursday in an Orange Empire Conference matchup.

OCC's 1-2-3 hitters -- J.T. Navarro, Chris Prescott and Andrew Garcia -- continued to pace the offense, while pitchers Jake Pabich and Tylor Armour held the Chargers to just two runs on nine hits.

Navarro went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBI for the Pirates (10-8, 1-2 in OEC) while Prescott added two hits, two runs and one RBI and Garcia pushed across a pair of hits, a run and an RBI.

Pabich (2-0) picked up the win after allowing two runs on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings. Armour minimized a potential big seventh inning for the Chargers (12-3, 2-1) and tossed 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to collect his first save of the season.

After Navarro led off the bottom of the first and reached on an error, back-to-back bunt singles by Prescott and Garcia loaded the bases for Coast. J.T. McLellan followed with a sacrifice fly to center to score Navarro before Jake Scott singled in Prescott to put OCC up 2-0. After a Daniel Hawkins walk loaded the bases. Robert Teel earned a run-scoring base-on-balls that scored Garcia to make it 3-0.

Coast used some two-out magic in the bottom of the fourth to extend its lead as once again, the top of the order came through. Navarro reached on a single to right and came all the way around to score on an RBI-double by Prescott, putting the Pirates ahead, 4-0. Garcia then followed with an RBI-single to score Prescott to make it 5-0, ending the day for Chargers' starter Joseph Mercado (2-2), who allowed five runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks over four innings.

After cruising through the first six innings, Pabich got into some trouble in the top of the seventh when the Chargers loaded the bases on three straight singles to start the frame. Pabich worked a harmless fly out, but allowed an RBI-single to left to make it 5-1 and Coast went to Armour from there. Cypress scored again on a sacrifice fly, but Armour would wiggle out of further damage.

From there, Armour retired six of the next seven batters he faced to end the game, helping the Pirates avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Chargers.

Coast will return to action on Saturday at Golden West, beginning at 12 p.m. in the first of three with the Rustlers. OCC's next home game will take place on Tuesday against GWC, beginning at 2 p.m.