Robeniol's strong effort propels Pirates past Gauchos, 4-1

COSTA MESA -- With the offense struggling to find the big hit and the defense less than stellar, the Orange Coast College baseball turned to pitcher Kyle Robeniol to carry the load and he was more than up to the task. The sophomore lefty threw seven-plus strong, effective innings and carried the Pirates to a 4-1 win over visiting Saddleback on Tuesday at Wendell Pickens Field.

Robeniol (4-0) allowed just one run on five hits over 7 1/3 innings, walking two and striking out three. After Robeniol struck out Tyler Clark to lead off the top of the eighth, Blair Lewis came in and hit his first batter before retiring his final two batters of the frame.

In the ninth Ryan Randel retired the first two batters he faced, but hit the next batter and had to battle through the Pirates' fourth error of the game before coaxing a fielder's choice ground ball to end the game.

Coast had the answer for Saddleback starter Daniel Harris (3-3) as the Pirates (17-2, 4-0 in Orange Empire Conference) jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first two innings.

In the bottom of the first, a walk to Travis Moniot and a fielding error off the bat of John Balliet put the first two runners on base. A deep fly ball by Eric Wagaman moved the baserunners up and two batters later, Robert Teel hit a ground ball up the middle. Second baseman Brett Auerbach made the backhand stop and tried to do-or-die a throw to first, but Teel beat it out. While that was going on, Moniot scored and Balliet came around from second base to score, putting Coast up, 2-0.

In the bottom of the second, J.T. Navarro lined a double down the left-field line and scored on an RBI-single by Wagaman to put the Pirates up, 3-0.

Harris lasted only 2 1/3 innings, but received support from the Gaucho bullpen, where Brendan Mascle, Travis Willis, Chris Despars and Connor Dand held the Pirates to just a run on two hits the rest of the way.

That run came courtesy of a mammouth solo home run by Wagaman, his eighth of the season, putting Coast up 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth.

Coast missed a pair of golden opportunities to pad its lead in the sixth and seventh innings, but could not get it done.

Saddleback (14-6, 2-2) used a leadoff triple by Jerry Carrillo and an RBI-grounder by Theodore Smith to get on the scoreboard, but that would be for the Gauchos' offense the rest of the way.

Game 2 of this three-game series takes place on Thursday at Saddleback College, beginning at 2 p.m., with the series finale set for Saturday at 12 p.m. at Wendell Pickens Field.