Pirates drop 2-of-3 at Cuesta
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Orange Coast | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 2 |
|
Cuesta | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | X | 9 | 10 | 1 |
SAN LUIS OBISPO -- The Orange Coast College baseball team headed up north and dropped a pair of games in last weekend's three-game series with host Cuesta College.
In the opener on Thursday, the Pirates fell behind early and their rally came up short with a 10-8 loss. OCC (3-2 overall) fell behind 9-3 after four innings and despite a solid stretch of relief work by the pair of Andrew Arguello and Doug Magee (four innings, one hit, one run), Coast came up a couple runs short down the stretch.
In Game 2 on Friday, after walking 10 Cuesta batters in the opener, the Coast pitching staff forced the Cougars to put the ball in play. Despite allowing 13 hits, Coast minimized the damage and allowed just four runs as the Pirates held on for a 6-4 win to even the series at a game apiece.
McKinley LeFore pitched seven strong innings to pick up the win (three earned runs on 10 hits), while Magee earned his first save of the season, allowing no runs on one hit over the final 1 1/3 innings.
Skylar Limonchi went 3-for-5 with two runs, while Chris Ceballos went 3-for-4 for the Pirates. Joey Fregosi added two hits, including a triple and scored twice.
In the series finale, Coast struggled in the middle innings and fell to the Cougars, 9-7. After tying the game at 4 in the top of the fifth on a solo home run by Jacob Gentry and a sacrifice fly by Clifford Pradd, the Cougars answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth and three more in the sixth to open up a 9-4 advantage.
The Pirates picked up a pair of runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth, but could not climb all the way back.
Landon Silver went 2-for-5 and was OCC's lone player with more than one hit in the game as Cuesta's Braeden Gowdy scattered four runs (three earned) on four hits with five strikeouts over six innings to pick up the win.
OCC returns home to host Long Beach City College on Tuesday, beginning at 2 p.m.
