Orange Coast College

Baseball: Four Pirates earn all-conference honors

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

COSTA MESA -- After helping the Orange Coast College baseball team to a second place finish in the Orange Empire Conference, four Pirate players earned first-team honors on the All-Orange Empire Conference team, as selected by the coaches from each school.

Freshman third baseman Drew Hillman, freshman catcher Jourdan Watanabe, sophomore centerfielder Cory Olson and sophomore pitcher Brandon Dixon all earned first-team honors. No OCC player received a spot on the second team.

Hillman (El Toro HS, pictured left) hit .354 in conference for the Pirates and led all OEC hitters with 27 RBI. He finished the regular season batting .368 with three home runs and a team-leading 41 RBI.

Watanabe (Northwood HS, pictured right) hit .338 in conference with three home runs and 20 RBI and was a mainstay behind the plate for the Pirates. Overall, he is batting .353 and is second on the team in home runs (five) and third in RBI (33).

Olson (Orange Lutheran HS, pictured left) moved to the top of the lineup from the No. 3 spot and his production continued to roll along for the Pirates. He batted .333 with four home runs, 16 RBI and was a perfect 9-for-9 in stolen bases in conference. Overall, he's batting .347 with a team-best eight home runs, 39 RBI and a team-best 18-for-18 in stolen bases.

Dixon (Tustin HS, pictured right), came to Coast from Cypress College and the lefty has made the most of his transfer, posting a 9-4 record with a 2.81 ERA. He went 5-4 in conference with a 3.86 ERA. His 102 1/3 innings pitched are the third-most in the state. His 2.81 ERA and 72 strikeouts were second-best among all conference pitchers.

OCC will host Long Beach City in the Southern California Regional Playoffs, beginning on Friday at 2 p.m.