Pirates win for Pia with 5-1 victory over Roadrunners

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College baseball team gave its longtime assistant coach Jeff Piaskowski one more "W" before calling it a career as the Pirates topped College of the Desert, 5-1, on Saturday at Wendell Pickens Field.

Piaskowski, or "Pia" as he's affectionately known around OCC since 2004, gave an emotional speech to the team before the game and the Pirates (9-1) went out and topped the Roadrunners (2-9) for the second time this week.

"He's been with me for 15 years at OCC, but in my life since high school," Pirate head coach John Altobelli said. "He's given this program everything he had and more. Anything we needed him to do, he went out and did it. He will be sorely missed around here, that's for sure."

After Pia got things going with a ceremonial first pitch to his son and former Pirate, Jeff Piaskowski Jr., the Pirates overcame an early 1-0 hole with a run in the third and back-to-back two-run frames in the seventh and eighth innings. Following the game, Pia addressed the team before the group huddled around the scoreboard, which said "Thanks Pia" for the team names.

David Morgan went 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI, while Tyler Lasch added a double, triple and a run scored. The bottom of the order fared well too, thanks to Ryan O'Halloran and Skylar Limonchi, who each added a pair of hits to compliment OCC's 11-hit performance.

The pitching trio of Kevin Ishimaru, Vince Inman (1-0) and Davis Delorefice held the Roadrunners to one run on seven hits with one walk and 11 strikeouts.

Trailing 1-0, Coast tied the score in the bottom of the third when Morgan reached on a sun-aided double to left. Two batters later, he scored on an RBI-double off the bat of Jacob Gentry.

COD starter Keven Yanez was solid on the mound for the Roadrunners, holding OCC's offense to one run on six hits over six innings. But the Desert bullpen did not fare as well as the Pirates notched four runs on five hits over the final two innings.

A one-out triple to right-center by Lasch was followed with an RBI-single to right by Morgan, putting the Pirates ahead for good. Later in the inning, with runners on first and third, the Pirates pulled off a well-designed double steal to put OCC ahead, 3-1.

In the eighth, O'Halloran led off with a single to left-center and two batters later, he scored on an RBI-triple by Joey Fregosi. Tommy Williams brought in Fregosi one pitch later with a sacrifice fly to center.

After starting the season with 10 straight games at Wendell Pickens Field, Coast will see a different ballpark as the Pirates head to Southwestern on Tuesday (2 p.m.) before hosting College of the Canyons on Wednesday (2 p.m.)