Pirates take two over Panthers in wild baseball weekend

COSTA MESA -- Two of the top teams in the state spent the weekend in an epic battle and after dropping the opener, the Orange Coast College baseball team posted back-to-back, extra-inning wins over visiting Sacramento City College.

After losing Game 1, 9-8, the Pirates (10-5) regrouped and won the second game, 14-13 before today's come-from-behind, 7-6, 10-inning thriller over the Panthers (8-6).

In Friday's marathon win, Coast jumped out to a 12-2 lead through the first four innings, only to see the Panthers catch up, even up and go ahead of the Pirates, 13-12, heading into the bottom of the ninth.

But a run-scoring double off the bat of Cary Arbolida saved the Pirates from an embarrassing loss and forced extra innings, where Konner Kincade won the game with a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th.

On Saturday, it was a rare pitcher's duel at John Altobelli Park as OCC's Cameron Mahaffy locked horns with Sac City righty Elijah Rogalski. Mahaffy threw six strong innings, allowing just two runs on four hits with five strikeouts, but Rogalski bettered his Pirate counterpart, allowing just one unearned run over six frames with no walks and three Ks.

The Panthers made it 4-1 in the seventh before a two-run home run by Logan Jackson brought the deficit back to one at 4-3 through seven innings.

Sac City tacked on another run in the top of the eighth to make it 5-3 before some late-inning magic was turned in by the Pirates.

Arbolida led off the frame with a walk and two-batters, went to third on a double to right center off the bat of Isaiah Morales. Arbolida scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-4 and following a Jake Lappin walk and stolen base, OCC had runners on second and third with two outs.

From there, Sac City threw down to second on what appeared to be an overzealous Lappin leading off of second. On the throw down, Morales managed to steal home and when the ball got away from the Panthers' catcher, Lappin came all the way around to score to put OCC up, 6-5.

But the Panthers showed why they're always at or near the top of the Northern California baseball rankings, battling back to load the bases with nobody out against Pirates' righty Troon Eakin. In a great example of the term, "controlling the damage", Eakin struck out the next batter, forced a run-scoring fly ball and retired the next batter, limiting the Panthers to just a 6-6 tie.

Both teams failed to score in their next at-bats, giving the Pirates an opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the 10th.

Lappin led off the frame with a single to right and advanced to second on a botched pickoff throw by Sac City. Logan Jackson, who ripped a two-run home run earlier in the game, was intentionally walked, bringing up pinch-hitter Will Ireland. The Pirate hitter bunted the ball back to pitcher Porter Robinson, who slipped and fell on the play, making everyone safe. Robinson regained his composure and struck out the next OCC batter, but Mahaffy came through with a high chopper over a drawn-in infield to win the game.

In addition to his strong pitching, Mahaffy also went 3-for-5 with the game-winning RBI for Coast, while Arbolida added two hits a run and an RBI. Chase Rousselo pitched a scoreless 10th inning to pick up the win and improve to 4-0 for the season.

The Pirates will return to action on Tuesday at Palomar College (1 p.m.) before opening Orange Empire Conference play at Irvine Valley on Tuesday, March 8 at 2 p.m. OCC's next home game will take place on Saturday against the Lasers, beginning at 12 p.m.

Prior to the start of the game, OCC will have their "official" field dedication ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Also for the game, both teams will be wearing "14" uniforms in honor of former Pirate head coach John Altobelli.