Orange Coast College

Baseball: Pirates' win streak snapped by Santa Ana, 5-3

Thursday, April 10, 2008

COSTA MESA -- The 10-game conference winning streak for the Orange Coast College baseball team came to an end on Thursday as the Santa Ana Dons pulled out a 5-3 win over the Pirates in a battle between the two top teams in the Orange Empire Conference.

With the loss, the Pirates (26-8-1, 10-2 in the OEC) drop a game behind the first-place Dons (26-8, 11-1) in the conference standings. The same two teams will play again on Saturday, at Santa Ana College, beginning at noon.

After falling behind 3-0 in the top of the third, OCC responded in the bottom half of the frame. Ryan Sheeks led off with a single to left, went to second on a wild pitch and Chris Fung followed with a walk. After a sacrifice bunt by Wes Kartch and an intentional walk by Cory Olson, Drew Hillman's sacrifice fly brought in Sheeks and moved up Fung and Olson to make it 3-1. Jourdan Watanabe came through with a two-run single to center, scoring Fung and Olson to tie the game at 3.

That's where it stood until the top of the seventh. SAC shortstop Crispin Tarango led off with a single to left, went to second a sacrifice bunt by James Davis and scored on an RBI single by Nate Bridges, giving the Dons the lead for good.

Santa Ana placed several men on base over the final three innings, but thanks to some trickery by the Pirates, the damage was minimal.

In the eighth, a leadoff double by Derek Eligio was wiped out when the old "hidden ball trick" was pulled on the unexpected runner. When Eligio led off, shortstop Ryan Dunn, who had the ball, walked over and tagged the runner out. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for the Dons, but reliever Beau Graham came in and coaxed a pop out to second and a strikeout, keeping the score, 4-3.

OCC had baserunners on in the eighth and ninth innings, but could not find the answer against starter Kyle Mertins, who went the distance to improve to 6-1. He allowed seven hits, four walks and three strikeouts to pick up the win.

Sophomore lefty Brandon Dixon (8-2) took the loss for the Pirates. He allowed four runs on seven hits over seven innings of work with two walks and four strikeouts along the way.

Following Saturday's finale with the Dons, OCC will return to Wendell Pickens Field on Tuesday against Saddleback, beginning at 2:30 p.m.