Orange Coast College

Baseball: Pirates hang on to top Irvine Valley, 7-6

Thursday, March 27, 2008

COSTA MESA -- Fans need to know one important rule when Orange Coast and Irvine Valley play each other in baseball -- don't leave early.

The Pirates jumped out to a 7-3 lead, then hung on for dear life as the Lasers rallied late. But reliever Justin Peterson managed to shut the door on the Lasers' rally, giving OCC a 7-6 win to conclude the first round of Orange Empire Conference play.

With the game tied at 3 in the bottom of the fifth, OCC (22-7-1, 6-1 in the OEC) took the lead for good when Ryan Sheeks doubled to lead things off. He went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Chris Fung and scored on an RBI grounder by Wes Kartch to make it 4-3. Cory Olson followed that up with a solo home run to left, his team-best seventh of the season, to make it 5-3.

In the sixth, an RBI single by Ryan Dunn and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch by Kartch gave the Pirates a 7-3 lead and things looked comfortable.

But the Lasers (21-9, 5-2), one of the bigger surprises of the OEC, refused to give up. In the bottom of the eight, IVC took advantage of a single, a pair of walks and a two-run bloop double by Matt Ivanoff to cut the deficit to 7-5. A walk by Kory Burkhart loaded the bases, bringing IVC's leading hitter, left-hander Abel Medina, to the plate.

OCC countered with lefty reliever Justin Peterson and the sophomore came through with his biggest out of the season as he retired Medina on a swinging third strike, keeping OCC ahead, 7-5.

A leadoff walk in the top of the ninth by Connor Rhoads turned into a run as Sean Williams lined a two-out single to right to make it 7-6, but Peterson managed to ring up Vince Hungerford on a called third strike to end the game.

Sheeks was an offensive spark at the bottom of the OCC lineup as he went 3-for-4 with a single, double and triple with a run scored and an RBI. Ryan Dunn and Kartch each had a hit and two RBI and Jourdan Watanabe and Austin Elliott each had a hit and two runs scored for Coast, winners of six straight conference games.

The Pirates will return to action on Tuesday at Fullerton, beginning at 2:30 p.m. Coast returns to Pickens Field on Thursday against the Hornets at 2:30 and on Saturday against Riverside, beginning at noon.