Pirates fight back, but come up a run short
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Glendale | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 14 | 3 |
|
Orange Coast | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 1 |
COSTA MESA -- There are peaks and valleys during a long baseball season and for the Orange Coast College baseball team, they are fighting all of it right now as the Pirates battled back but came up short, 10-9, to visiting Glendale College on Thursday at John Altobelli Park.
Right now for the Pirates (4-9), the "key play" isn't being made, the "big hit" is eluding them, any error is getting magnified and everything is just hard at the moment. But the fight shown on Thursday illustrates that once the bounces go in the other direction, this is a team not to be trifled with.
Coast trailed 7-4 after seven innings and pulled to within a run after a two-run home run off the bat of Koby Williams pulled Coast to within a run at 7-6.
Then the top of the ninth came. A 50/50 grounder turned into a hit then a sun-aided double brought home a run ... then a bloop single just out of reach made it 9-6. With a bit of good fortune, a sacrifice fly that plated the 10th and eventual winning run, might have been a harmless fly out to left field to end the game.
But, that's not the luck of the Pirates right now.
In the bottom of the ninth, Coast battled back. With two outs and a runner on first base, J.T. Crabbe doubled to left field to put runners on second and third. J.T. Crabbe lined a double to left to score both runs to make it 10-8. Back-to-back singles from Williams and Keith Aguilar scored Leite to make it a 10-9 game with the tying and winning runs on the bases.
But Glendale closer Joseph Perez regrouped and struck out the final OCC batter to end the game.
The Pirates will return to action on Friday at Southwestern College at 1 p.m. OCC's next home game will be on Saturday against Mt. San Antonio College at 12 p.m.
