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Santa Ana Bounces Back For Share Of OEC Title
COSTA MESA, CA - After leading the Orange Empire Conference baseball title race for most of the season, Santa Ana College (29-9, 15-6 OEC) found itself in a must win situation, Thursday, if it wanted a piece of its second consecutive first-place finish. Jacob Vasquez's two-out, run-scoring single to center in the eighth inning drove in Jose Chavez from second with the go-ahead run to make it 8-7. The Dons earned a share if their second consecutive OEC baseball title and 17th overall when Matthew Freeman got Josh Banda to foul out to end the game.
On Tuesday, visiting Orange Coast College
(24-14, 15-6 OEC) used a three-run ninth inning to move into tie with top-ranked Dons for first place in the league with its 12-11 win.
Yesterday,
the Pirates earned a share of its first league title in 18 years and moved one-game ahead of the Dons in the league standings when Luke Beck drove in Robbie Blauer from second with an infield single that gave Orange Coast a 9-8, 13-inning win in a game that was suspended back on March 17 due to darkness.
In Thursday's regularly scheduled game, Santa Ana and starting pitcher Daniel Arizmendi  overcame a 6-0 deficit to earn the 8-7 win. Arizmendi (8-1), finished 7-0 in league action, fell behind 3-0 in the first inning on Luke Beck's wind-aided three-run home run. Things didn't get much better in the third when the Dons' lefthander gave up three more runs on three hits and a hit batter.
Santa Ana chipped away at the Pirates' lead with two runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and eventually tied the game at 6-6 with three runs in the sixth.
Rick Taloa hit his team-leading
17th home run in the fourth inning to make it 6-2. Matt Morris drove in CJ Rice in the fourth to make it 6-3 despite grounding into a double play. The Dons used five  hits and a Pirate error in the sixth inning to tie the game. Corey Skaggs' infield single between third and shortstop plated Rice to make it 6-6.
Orange Coast regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Arizmendi hit Stephen Cope with one out and allowed the Pirates' center fielder to advance to third when this errant pickoff attempt went wide of Taloa at first base. Matt Cline's safety-squeeze bunt scored Cope from third and gave Orange Coast a 7-6 advantage.
Santa Ana took its first lead, 8-7, with its two runs in the eight inning. The Dons used four hits, all singles, to score its two runs. Skaggs tied the game at 7-7 with his second RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly to center that plated pinch runner Adam Ricciardulli. Vasquez broke the 7-7 tie with a run-scoring single to center that scored Chavez from second.
Freeman picked up his first save of the season in relief of Arizmendi by pitching a scoreless ninth. After walking the Pirates' Cope to lead off the bottom of the ninth, Freeman was the beneficiary of some nifty defense as Cope moved to third on a sacrifce bunt and Taloa's diving stop of Robbie Blauer's hit that was heading to right field. With two out, Freeman stranded Cope at third when he forced Banda to foul out to Mike Forman in foul territory.
Arizmendi, who gave up seven runs (six earned) on eight hits, three walks and two hit batters over eight innings, improved to 7-0 in OEC action. He struck out five.
The Dons pounded out 14-hits in the regular-season finale led by Matt Morris (2 for 5), Vasquez (2 for 4), Jimmy Waninger (2 for 5), Tyler Greer
(2 for 5) and Chavez (2 for 3) who each had two hits apiece.
Luke Beck and Stephen Schneider each had two hits apiece for the Pirates. Ryan Clear fell to 5-3 after giving up six earned runs on six hits, two walks and a wild pitch in 3.2 innings of work.
The win gave Santa Ana a share of its 17th conference title and 11th under head coach Don Sneddon who became just the second California community college baseball coach to win 800 games earlier this month. Sneddon's overall record now stands at 802-265-3.
Santa Ana will found out on Monday when and where it will be playing next weekend when the California Community Colleges Southern California Baseball Regional pairings are announced.
On Deck: Southern California Baseball Regional, Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15. Site and opponent to be determined on Monday, May 9. |
