Pirates capture Orange Empire Conference title with 9-6 win over Lasers

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College baseball team returned to the top of the Orange Empire Conference mountain top on Thursday, thanks to a 9-6 win over visiting Irvine Valley College at Wendell Pickens Field.

OCC's win, coupled with Riverside City College's 6-0 loss at Santa Ana, clinches the OEC title for the Pirates (31-8, 16-4 in conference), their 18th conference title in school history.

While the win was nice, the postgame celebration was a bit subdued with the thoughts of bigger fish to fry over the next several weeks.

"It's always nice to win your conference, especially a conference as talented and as deep as ours," OCC head coach John Altobelli said. "But, this is a group that is focused on bigger prizes down the road. It will be great to stay at home for the playoffs."

Eric Wagaman went 2-for-5 and lauched his 13th home run of the season -- a grand slam that capped off OCC's five-run third inning -- giving the Pirates the lead for good.

Luke Hussung added a two-run single, while Ramiro Velasco contributed a solo home run to the Pirates' nine-run, 10-hit arsenal.

Wagaman's blast helped ease the load for Pirate starter Ryan Randel, who cruised through the first six innings before running out of gas in IVC's four-run seventh. The 6-foot-7 righty allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in a solid 122-pitch performance.

Cameron Jabara returned to action after missing several games with an arm issue and allowed just one run on three hits over the final 2 1/3 to collect his first save of the year.

For the Lasers (17-22, 5-15), Tyler Odekirk went 2-for-5 with five RBI, while Colin Conroy added three hits and three runs scored.

With scheduled starter Tyler Venturelli on the shelf, the Lasers turned to their staff to eat up innings and the Pirates took advantage. In addition to the 10 hits and two home runs, Coast earned five walks and three hit batters to further add stress to the Lasers' pitching staff.

The Pirates and Lasers will wrap up the regular season on Friday at IVC, beginning at 2 p.m. Postseason seedings will be announced this weekend.