Orange Coast College

Baseball: Pirates' rally falls short to Fullerton

Saturday, April 18, 2009

COSTA MESA -- Unfortunately for the Orange Coast College baseball team, the Pirates' best pitches from Saturday's game with Fullerton came during the pregame "first-pitch" ceremony, honoring the 1948-49 Coast squad for their 60th anniversary.

Falling behind 15-5 after 5 1/2 innings, the Pirates put on a valiant comeback, only to fall short to the visiting Hornets, 15-14, at Wendell Pickens Field in an Orange Empire Conference matchup.

The lone bright spot for the Pirates (26-10, 14-4 in the OEC) came at Cypress College, where the Saddleback Gauchos rallied for an 11-10 win over the second-place Chargers (25-12, 13-5), keeping OCC alone in first place in the conference standings.

Beck Wheeler led the Coast comeback by going 4-for-4 with four runs scored and an RBI, while Scott Stidham added three hits, two runs and three RBI and Drew Hillman added two hits a home run, two runs scored and two RBI. With most of the starters on the bench late in the game, several offensive stars came off of the bench today, including Ricky Stokes (2-for-2, one run, two RBI) and Josh Berry Hill (1-for-3, two RBI).

OCC got back in the game in the bottom of the fifth with a five-run frame. Run-producing doubles by Stidham and Stokes, followed by a two-run double by Berryhill and an RBI grounder by Hillman brought the Pirates to within five at 15-10.

The pitching tandem of Josh Lee (two innings, no runs on three hits with three strikeouts) and Brett Williams (one inning, one strikeout, no runs) kept the Hornets (13-22-1, 6-12) off the scoreboard down the stretch.

With a run in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Stokes, OCC headed into the ninth down 15-11.

In the ninth, a walk by Kevin Clark and a double by Wheeler was followed with a two-run single to center by Scott Stidham, making it 15-13.

A single by Stokes and a sacrifice bunt by Alonzo Torres put the tying runs in scoring position.

A wild pitch by the Hornets plated Stidham and moved Stokes to third to make it 15-14.

But Fullerton pitcher Allan Rodarte struck out Berryhill and ended the game with a ground out by Kris Martin to end the comeback bid.

R.J. Montgomery went 3-for-4 with a grand slam, two runs scored and five RBI, while Raul Meraz and Rodarte each added three hits for the Hornets.

OCC will play at Fullerton on Tuesday (2 p.m.) before returning home to face Golden West on Thursday, also at 2 p.m.