April 30, 2009 - Boxscore
Dons Complete Sweep of Riverside with 9-5 Win

SANTA ANA, CA - The Santa Ana College (SAC) baseball team defeated visiting Riverside College 9-5 in the second game of the Orange Empire Conference Mini Tournament. The Dons improve to 32-10 on the season with the win and 17-6 in conference play.

The Dons were forced to overcome an early 3-0 deficit as Bryce Holland, Edwin Mendoza and Brandon Day each hit a solo home run in the third inning off Dons starting pitcher Nick Capito.

Capito (10-2) settled down following that inning to hold Riverside (20-23, 7-16) scoreless over the next six innings. The Tigers biggest threat came in the sixth inning as they loaded the bases with one out. Capito got Joseph Williams to pop-out to second and struck out Richie Jimenez to end the inning.

The Dons quickly answered the three solo shots by the Tigers by scoring twice in the bottom of the second to cut the lead to 3-2. TJ Yasuhara started the rally with a lead-off walk followed by Marcus Piazzisi who hit a double, advancing Yasuhara to third. Matt Hart and Derek Eligio hit back-to-back RBI-ground outs scoring Yasuhara and Piazzisi for the Dons two runs.

Jake Eccles hit a one-out triple off the centerfield wall in the fourth inning, missing a home run by about a foot. He scored in the next at bat when Stephen Gonzalez hit a RBI-double to tie the game at 3-3.

The Dons took their first lead of the game in the fifth inning when Piazzisi led the inning off with a single followed by a single by Hart. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Eligio's double to left field putting SAC up 5-3.

Eccles scored the Dons sixth run when he reached on a double to lead off the sixth inning. He advanced to third on a ground out and scored on Julian Duran's sacrifice fly putting the Dons up 6-3.

SAC added three more runs in the seventh inning to take a 9-3 lead. Piazzisi led the inning off with a double and advanced when Hart reached on a bunt single. Eligio doubled both runners in for the second time of the game and later scored on James Davis' RBI-double for the final run.

Riverside scored twice in the ninth inning off the Dons bullpen. Brett Hambright reached on an error and Billy Hamilton hit a two-run home run to right field. All five of the Tigers runs came via the long ball.

Nick Perez came in the game with one out and got Daniel Duran to hit into a double play to end the game. Capito picked up the win as he pitched eight innings allowing three runs on 10 hits with nine strikeouts.

The Dons remain in a tie for first place as Orange Coast College picked up a 4-0 win over Irvine Valley College. The Dons will play at Cypress College tomorrow in the final game of the season. Coast travels to Saddleback College to close out its season.

Next: Santa Ana at Cypress, Friday, May 1 at 2:00 p.m.