Orange Coast College

Baseball: Pirates sweep away Roadrunners, 8-4

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

COSTA MESA -- For the third straight day, one big inning enabled the Orange Coast College baseball team to top College of the Desert.

On Sunday, it was a five-run seventh inning that enabled the Pirates to sweep away the Roadrunners, 8-4, at Wendell Pickens Field.

With the Pirates (8-5) up 3-2 in the seventh, a two-out barrage Coast up for good. Drew Hillman (3-for-5, one run, one RBI) singled, then scored on an RBI double by Brett Wallach. Scott Stidham followed with an RBI single before Ricky Stokes reached base on an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error by COD pitcher Mike Barro, scoring Stidham on the play.

From there, Beck Wheeler came up with the big blow of the inning -- a two-run home run to left-center -- capping off the scoring for the Pirates.

COD (2-11) took answered with a pair of unearned runs in the ninth, but reliever Kyle Krogman got out of the jam and helped the Pirates to their fourth straight win.

D.J. Arellano and Alonzo Torres helped spark OCC's 17-hit attack with three hits each, while Ricky Stokes and Wheeler had two apiece.

Pirate starter Chris Licon (3-1) pitched six effective innings, allowing just two runs (both earned) on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

OCC returns to action on Tuesday at Chaffey College (2 p.m.) before opening up Orange Empire Conference play at Cypress on Thursday (2 p.m.) and at home against Saddleback on Saturday (noon).