Pirates fall to Warriors in Memorial Cup opener

COSTA MESA -- One bad ninth inning was too much to overcome for the Orange Coast College baseball team as the Pirates dropped Game 1 of the season-opening Memorial Cup, 7-4, to visiting El Camino College on Friday at John Altobelli Ballpark.

After coming back from deficits of 3-0 and 4-3, the Pirates saw the Warriors put up three runs in the ninth to pull out the win in this best-of-three series to kick off the 2025 campaign.

After OCC tied things up in the bottom of the eighth at 4, Pirate reliever Daniel O'Hanlon struck out the first batter he faced, the strike zone got a bit away from him as the Warriors turned a single to right, a walk, a hit batter and a wild pitch into the go-ahead run in the ninth, 5-4.

Gio Crow came through for ECC after that, driving in two more runs with a single to center to make it 7-4. O'Hanlan battled back and struck out the final two batters he faced, but El Camino reliever pitched the final 1 2/3 innings scoreless to pick up the win.

Pirate pitchers Zach DenDekker, Parker King and O'Hanlon combined for 13 strikeouts, but nine walks and a pair of hit batters enabled the Warriors to overcome the swings and misses.

After ECC jumped ahead 3-0, Coast began to chip away at the deficit in the bottom of the second when Mikey Hanano scored Tyler Arevalos with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.

A run-scoring ground out by Luke Flinn and an RBI-single off the bat of Tyler Arevalos leveled the game at 3 after three innings of play. Arevalos went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, while Hanano added two hits and an RBI.

El Camino regained the lead at 4-3 in the fifth and it stayed that way all the way to the bottom of the eighth. There, a one-out double by Arevalos was followed up with an RBI-single to right off the bat of Zach Boynton to bring Coast back even at 4-4 before ECC's three-run ninth sealed the deal for the Warriors.

Game 2 of the series takes place on Saturday at El Camino College, beginning at 12 p.m. with the series finale back at OCC on Tuesday at 1 p.m.

The birth of the Memorial Cup began back in 2019, where, after two years of intense regional playoff battles, OCC and El Camino met at the 2019 3C2A State Baseball Championships. The Pirates won the state title that year with a doubleheader sweep over the Warriors on the final day. It was a series that truly brought out the very best of both schools and it connected Orange Coast and El Camino baseball together forever. During that season, ECC's Sladen Mohl was killed on his way home from practice on April 18, 2019. Nine months later, OCC head coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa were killed in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020, which claimed the lives of nine people. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, both schools wanted to create an annual three-game series in their honor of John and Sladen and in 2022, the Memorial Cup was born. In addition of playing in remembrance of those who have perished, there's also a big 'ol trophy up for grabs.