Pirates drop heartbreaker to Jaguars

COSTA MESA -- The crucial call late in the game did not go the way of the Orange Coast College baseball team and the end result was a 7-6, 11-inning loss to visiting Southwestern College on Tuesday at John Altobelli Ballpark.

The Pirates (4-6) trailed 5-2 early and 6-5 late before tying the game in the ninth and nearly walking off the Jags (7-4) in the 10th. Keith Aguilar led off the bottom of the 10th with a double down the right-field line and a Tyler Covington bunt appeared to move Aguilar to third, but the umpire called Aguilar out, ending the potential game-winning threat.

The Jaguars made that call really count in the top of the 11th when Maddox Haley put Southwestern ahead for good with a solo home run over the left-field fence, breaking the 6-6 deadlock.

Coast grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Dylan Krause singled with two outs and scored when a hit-and-run single off the bat of Kael Corridan was slowed down by Haley, allowing Krause to make it all the way around the bases. Kevin Andrus followed that up with an RBI-single to left-center which scored Corridan to put the Pirates up a pair.

But Alejandro McKay's bases-loaded double to left-center in the top of the third quickly erased the momentum and put the Jaguars up, 3-2.

SWC extended its lead to 5-2 in the fourth, but in the bottom of the fifth, Coast would answer back. An RBI-single off the bat of Aguilar was followed up by a 2-run home run to left by Covington, putting Coast even with the Jags.

But once again, Southwestern regained the lead in top of the next inning. With two outs and nobody on, a walk and wild pitch was followed by an RBI-single up the middle by Jacob May, who went 5-for-6 from the leadoff spot for SWC.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the ninth. There, Krause led off with a solo home run over the left-field fence to even the score at six, setting up the dramatic extra innings. Krause finished 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI, while Aguilar (2-5, one RBI), Covington (2-5, one run, two RBI) and Gibson Rath (2-4, one run) collected eight of OCC's 10 hits.

Alex Gelb (0-1) took the tough loss for the Pirates, keeping his team in the game with five strong relief innings, allowing just the one run on five hits with three strikeouts. SWC's Kasey Regala (1-0) picked up the win, allowing one run on three hits with three strikeouts over four relief innings of work.

Coast will have a short memory, thanks to last week's rainouts. The Pirates will head up to L.A. Mission College on Wednesday for a makeup game with the Eagles, beginning at 12 p.m. OCC's next home game will take place on Friday, Feb. 28 against L.A. Valley, beginning at 1 p.m.