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Baseball: Pirates hang on to top Cuesta, 8-7
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Friday, January 30, 2009
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SAN LUIS OBISPO -- The Orange Coast College baseball team jumped out to an early lead, then fought off severall rallies by Cuesta College for an 8-7 nonconference road win on Thursday.
"That was a great game -- almost felt like an Orange Empire Conference type of game out there," OCC head coach John Altobelli said. "Both teams really went after it out there. Fortunately, we were able to hold them off down the stretch. This should be a very entertaining series."
The Pirates (2-0) had leads of 4-1, 6-2 and 8-4, only to see the Cougars (1-2) answer every Coast outburst with one of their own.
Finally, with the score 8-7 in the bottom of the ninth and two outs, Cuesta had runners on first and second when a line drive heading to right field was snagged by first baseman Beck Wheeler, who stretched all the way out on a diving attempt to save the game.
"Thank goodness that kid is 6-foot-4," Altobelli joked. "An inch or two shorter and we would have had a tie game."
Six players had two or more hits for the Pirates, including Scott Stidham (2-for-4, two-run home run, three RBI), D.J. Arellano (2-for-5, three RBI), Brett Wallach (2-for-3, two runs, one RBI), Scott Hong (2-for-4, one run), Wheeler (2-for-2, two runs, three walks) and Drew Hillman (2-for-4, one run, one RBI).
The Pirates and Cougars square off for Game 2 of this three-game series on Friday, beginning at 2 p.m. Game 3 is set for Saturday at noon.
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