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Eccles Hits Walk-Off Single in Dons' 9-8 Victory
SANTA ANA, CA - Jake Eccles (Temescal Canyon HS) hit a single up the middle of the infield to score Crispin Tarango (Diamond Bar HS) as the Santa Ana College (SAC) baseball team defeated Irvine Valley College (IVC) 9-8. It was the Dons (30-8, 15-1) third win over the Lasers (27-13, 10-6) this season and second in Orange Empire Conference play.
Marcus Piazzisi (El Dorado HS) led the first inning off with a single through the right side. After stealing second and advancing to third on a passed ball, Piazzisi scored SAC's first run on a sacrifice fly by Matt Allen (Orange HS). Casey Rihn (La Habra HS) then doubled to centerfield and scored on a single by Kyle Hardman (Mission Viejo HS) that put the Dons up 2-0.
IVC came back in the third inning and hit a two-run home run and a three-run home run off SAC's starting pitcher Brandon Pinder (Centennial HS) to take a 5-2 lead.
The Dons answered with one run in the fourth inning when Tarango hit a sacrifice fly to score Derek Eligio (Esperanza HS) who scored on a double and advanced to third on a throwing error.
The Lasers extended their lead to 7-3 in the fifth inning as they scored two runs on three hits and two errors. SAC put up two runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning to cut the lead to 7-5.
Allen led the inning off by getting hit by a pitch and later scored on a double by Hardman. Tarango hit a single through the right side later in the inning that scored Hardman.
The Dons pulled within one at 7-6 in the sixth inning when James Davis (Garden Grove HS) scored on a passed ball. SAC took its first lead of the game an inning later.
Hardman reached on a single with one out and Eligio reached on a fielding error. After Tarango walked, Nate Bridges (Villa Park HS) singled to right field scoring Hardman followed by a fielder's choice by Davis that scored Tarango to give the Dons the 8-7 lead.
IVC quickly took the lead back with a lead-off solo home run in the eighth off Nick Culver (Esperanza HS). Culver, who came in relief of Pinder, had pitched two shut-out innings leading up to the home run.
In the bottom of the ninth inning Tarango hit a one-out double and later advanced to third on a wild pitch. Bridges and Davis both walked to load the bases; setting up Eccles. Eccles hit a 1-0 pitch up the middle of the infield that wasn't fielded cleanly by the short stop allowing Tarango to score the winning run.
Henry Buenrostro (Santa Ana HS) allowed only one hit in the ninth inning and induced three groundouts to pick up his first win of the season.
NEXT: Santa Ana at Irvine Valley, Thursday, April 24 at 2:30 p.m. |
