Pirates repeat the feat, use late rally to topple Chargers, 8-7

COSTA MESA -- It was deja vu all over again for the Orange Coast College baseball team as the Pirates rallied late for an 8-7 win over visiting Cypress College on Thursday at Wendell Pickens Field.

Thursday's dramatic win came just 48 hours after the Pirates (15-3-1, 2-0 in Orange Empire Conference) slipped past the Chargers (15-4, 0-2) by the same score, also in their final at-bats.

Much like Tuesday's triumph, Coast found itself trailing early as Cypress jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Pirates started to chip away and scored their first run in the bottom of the third on a throwing error by Charger shortstop Bobby Silvis which scored Tristian Hanoian on the play. 

In the bottom of the fifth, Tyler Lasch took advantage of the wind tunnel blowing out to right and launched his fourth home run of the season to trim the deficit to 4-2. It stayed that way all the way to the bottom of the seventh and that's when both teams traded body blows the remainder of the game.

Hanoian led off the seventh with a walk and two batters later, scored on an RBI-double by Murphy Stehly. After a Tommy Williams single put runners on the corners, Lasch came up with a clutch two-run triple to right-center, scoring both runners and putting the Pirates up, 5-4. Davis Delorefice made it 6-4 with a two-out, RBI-single to center, but the Chargers would not go away.

Cypress bounced right back and used a run-scoring wild pitch, an OCC error and an RBI-single by Carson Letterman to grab a 7-6 lead in the top of the eighth off reliever Miles Sandum.

In the bottom of the eighth, Hanoian reached first on a throwing error by Silvis and scored two batters later on a two-out, RBI-double down the left-field line by Stehly. Williams then followed with the final knockout punch with an RBI-single to right, scoring Stehly and putting Coast up, 8-7.

Delorefice came in from right field and pitched a perfect ninth inning for his second save of the season. In spite of a rough inning, Sandum picked up the win to improve to 4-1 for the year.

Cypress starter Reid Sebby kept the Pirates in check early on, but allowed four runs (three earned) over 6 1/3 innings on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts. For the second game in a row, the Charger bullpen struggled against the Pirates as the combo of Raul Herrada and Trevor Thompson (0-1) gave up four runs over the final 1 2/3 innings on five hits.

Lasch finished 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI for the Pirates. Stehly added two hits, two runs and two RBI, while Williams collected two hits, scored a run and drove in one.

Game 3 of this week's three-game series takes place on Saturday at Cypress, beginning at 12 p.m. OCC's next home game will take place on Thursday against Irvine Valley, beginning at 2 p.m.