Orange Coast College

Baseball: Despite 3-2 loss to Saddleback, Pirates share OEC title

Saturday, May 02, 2009

MISSION VIEJO -- It wasn't quite the way the Orange Coast College baseball team wanted to earn an Orange Empire Conference title, but the Pirates will take it following Friday's 3-2 conference road loss against Saddleback.

Thanks to Friday's 6-3 win by Cypress over Santa Ana, the Pirates (29-13, 17-7 in OEC) shares the conference hardware with the Chargers (29-13, 17-7) and the Dons (32-11, 17-7), with the Pirates holding the all-important tiebreaker edge over both teams, thanks to their 2-1 record against each ballclub.

"It's great to be a conference champion, but we need to get back to playing a more consistent brand of winning baseball," OCC head coach John Altobelli said. "We've been in a funk lately, where one part of our game is on, but another part isn't. On Friday, our pitching was strong, but we didn't get enough offense to support it.

"The best thing about the playoffs is that if you finished the season struggling, it means nothing -- it's a whole new season now and we need to get ready for it."

Against the Gauchos (27-17, 15-9), OCC was held to just four hits and two runs, thanks to eight strong innings from Scott Myers (2-0). Coast righty Calvin Drummond (8-5) took the loss, allowing three runs on six hits over four innings.

Ricky Stokes hit a solo home run for Coast, his third of the season.

On Sunday, the Pirates will have the answer to their playoff opponent, location and time. According to Altobelli, OCC's strong strength of schedule and RPI should yield a No. 1 or 2 seed, which would give Coast home field advantage for the first two rounds.

Log on to www.orangecoastcollege.edu for the latest playoff information as it becomes available.