Pirates bounce back with 7-6 win over Hornets

COSTA MESA -- Like the immortal John Wayne used to say ... "Ya fall of the horse, ya get right back on, Pilgrim."

That was the case for the Orange Coast College baseball team, who shrugged off a heartbreaking loss against Fullerton College two days ago and evened the three-game series with a hard-fought 7-6 victory over the visiting Hornets on Thursday at John Altobelli Park.

The win pushed the Pirates (13-17, 7-4 in the Orange Empire Conference) into a four-way tie for first place with Santa Ana (23-6-1, 7-4), Golden West (20-10, 7-4) and Saddleback (19-10, 7-4) atop the jam-packed OEC standings. Riverside (21-9, 6-5) and the Hornets (18-12, 6-5) sit one game back as SIX teams fight it out for the top spot in the most competitive conference in the state.

The Pirates had leads of 2-0 and 6-2 before the Hornets evened the score both times. Finally, in the bottom of the seventh inning, third baseman Luke Flinn drove in the eventual winning run with a clutch single to center field to put the Pirates up for good.

From there, the OCC bullpen, a squad that struggled in the ninth inning on Tuesday, came back strong and held the Hornets off the scoreboard for the final two innings to preserve the win. After Keith Aguilar threw a scoreless eighth inning, closer Jackson Gilles came out and earned some redemption on Thursday by tossing a scoreless ninth for his fourth save of the season, allowing a hit and a walk, but no runs with two strikeouts.

Starter Jack Ross pitched six effective innings for Coast, allowing four runs on six hits with seven strikeouts. 

J.T. Crabbe got Coast on the scoreboard early with a two-run home run just over the left-field foul pole off of Fullerton starter Ari Kligman, putting OCC ahead 2-0.

Fullerton tied things at 2 with solo runs in the second and fourth innings before Coast regained the lead in the fifth with four more runs off of Kilgman.

A bunt single by Owen Wessel and an infield single by Sebastian Moore got the fifth started right for the Pirates. Two batters later, another perfectly-placed infield single off the bat of Zach Leite and aggressive baserunning, allowed Wessel to score from second on the play, putting the Pirates up, 3-2.

Koby Williams followed with an RBI-single to right, scoring Moore to put Coast up, 4-2. Two batters later, Keith Aguilar came up with a key, 2-out double down the right-field line, scoring Williams and Leite to push the advantage to 6-2.

A 2-run home run off the bat of Fullerton's Rudy Gonzales made it 6-4 in the sixth. Gonzales went 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI to lead the FC offense.

In the seventh, a walk and hit-by-pitch by OCC reliever Nate Lockwood were cashed on with a two-run double to left off the bat of Trevor Schmidt, tying the score at 6-6.

But the Pirates quickly answered back in the bottom of the frame. Crabbe was hit by a pitch to lead things off and a crucial error erased a potential double-play ball and gave OCC runners on first and second with nobody out. Two batters Flinn came through with a shot back up the middle, which scored Crabbe and put OCC ahead, 7-6.

In the top of the eighth, Aguilar worked around a two-out walk and single, striking out Diego Franco to end the threat.

In the top of the ninth, Gilles gave up a leadoff single and had runners on first and second with one out, before picking up a big strikeout on Ryan Kirk before coaxing Gonzales into a harmless chopper to first base, which Leite retrieved and hustled to first, ahead of the batter, to end the game. 

The third-and-final game of this entertaining series takes place on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Fullerton College. OCC's next home game will be on Tuesday against Cypress College, beginning at 2 p.m.