Pirates keep rolling with 7-3 win over Dons

SANTA ANA -- The bats came alive as the Orange Coast College baseball team jumped out to an early lead and went on to a 7-3 win over Santa Ana College on Thursday afternoon at Don Sneddon Field.

Travis Moniot went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and two RBI, John Balliet added two hits and two RBI and Eric Wagaman slugged his seventh home run of the season to help past the offense for the Pirates (15-2, 2-0 in Orange Empire Conference). Nolan Powers also notched a pair of hits and drove in two as Coast clubbed 12 hits and took advantage of seven walks yielded by the Dons' pitching staff.

That was more than enough offense for OCC hurler Cameron Jabara, who allowed three hits, no walks and five strikeouts over six scoreless innings. After Andrew Eppenbach kept the Dons (14-4, 0-2) off of the scoreboard in the seventh and eighth innings, Santa Ana used a pair of hits and four walks and had the tying run up at the plate before Ryan Randel came in and retired his only two batters to record his second save of the season.

Moniot got things going early after launching the second pitch he saw far over the right-field fence, putting the Pirates up, 1-0.

Wagaman's blast kicked off a four-run third inning for the Pirates. Powers knocked in a run with a safety squeeze to make it 3-0 before Coast used two hit-by-pitches and a pair of bases-loaded walks to Moniot and Balliet to make it 5-0.

In the fourth, a two-out, RBI-single by Powers pushed OCC's lead to 6-0 and it stayed that way until the ninth, when Balliet lined a run-scoring single to center to cap off the Pirates' offense.

The series finale between the Pirates and Dons will take place on Saturday at 12 p.m. at OCC's Wendell Pickens Field. Tickets for "Orange Coast College Night" will be available to purchase at the game. Tickets are $25 and they are for Saturday, April 22 at Anaheim Stadium for the Los Angeles Angels game as they host the Toronto Blue Jays.