Pirates rally for 6-5 win over Lasers
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Irvine Valley | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
|
Orange Coast | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 4 |
COSTA MESA -- A season of pent-up frustration was released a bit on Tuesday as the Orange Coast College baseball team rallied from a 5-0 deficit for a 6-5 Orange Empire Conference win over Irvine Valley on Tuesday at John Altobelli Ballpark.
The Pirates began their comeback in the bottom of the sixth inning when Chris Ouellette tripled to right-center and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Covington, trimming the deficit to 5-1.
That would be all that IVC starting pitcher Tyler Eastham would allow over six strong innings of work, holding the Pirates to four hits, two walks and four strikeouts along the way.
An unsung hero for OCC was relief pitcher Randy Limon (5-5) who held the Lasers scoreless and hitless over the final 3 1/3 innings, striking out two.
A Flynn Barnes home run in the seventh brought Coast to within three at 5-2 before an RBI-double by Tyler Arevalos and an RBI-single by Barnes in the eighth brought the Pirates to within a run at 5-4.
After a 1-2-3 top of the ninth by Limon, OCC's leadoff hitter Lou Fujiwara walked before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt by Andrew Chorbagian. Ouellette squibbed an infield single to third, putting runners on first and second. With two outs, Covington came through with a single to center, scoring Fujiwara and after a throwing error by the IVC centerfielder, Coast had the winning run just 90 feet away.
Mikey Hanano then stepped up and played the hero, lining a single to center to score Ouellette with the winning win, sending the Pirate players and fans into a a happy frenzy.
Covington and Barnes each went 3-for-4 with a run and two RBI, while Ouellette added three hits and two runs scored for the Pirates.
IVC will host the Pirates on Thursday (2 p.m.) in game two of this three-game set with the season finale set for Friday at 1 p.m. at OCC's John Altobelli Ballpark.
