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Dons Win Second Straight OEC Championship
SANTA ANA, CA - The Santa Ana College (SAC) baseball team bounced back from its first loss in over a month with an 11-7 victory over Cypress College to clinch its second straight Orange Empire Conference Championship. The Dons (31-9, 16-2) have now won both games against the Chargers (24-16, 9-9) and close out the series on Tuesday at Cypress.
Cypress got on the board first with a two-out double by Mike Nesbitt that scored John Hurst who also reached on a double. After Brian Burke reached by getting hit by a pitch, he was picked off by Dons' catcher James Davis (Garden Grove HS).
SAC came back to tie the game in the bottom of the second inning when Derek Eligio (Esperanza HS) hit a lead off home run on the first pitch of the inning. He was followed by Crispin Tarango who hit a double to center field. Caleb Boyer (Temecula Valley HS) then put the Dons up 3-1 with a two-run home run.
After the Chargers cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the third, Casey Rihn (La Habra HS) reached on a fielder's choice. After Kyle Hardman (Mission Viejo HS) hit a single to right center field, Eligio grounded out to third base allowing Rihn to score. After Tarango walked, Boyer hit a RBI single to right field scoring Hardman.
Cypress followed with two runs of its own in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 5-4. The Chargers attempted to tie the game on a single hit into the hole, but Daniel Quiros (Capistrano Valley HS) threw out A.J. Smith at home.
The Dons extended their lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning when Eligio hit a RBI single that scored Rihn. The Chargers answered in the top of the sixth inning when Smith hit a RBI double and later scored on a fielder's choice to tie the game at 6-6.
With the game tied at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Dons drew three straight walks to load the bases with no outs. After Matt Allen (Orange HS) flew out to center field, Rihn drew a bases-loaded walk that brought in Quiros for the go-ahead run. In the next at-bat, Hardman hit a grand slam home run to left field that put the Dons up 11-6.
Cypress scored once more run in the eighth inning to cut the lead to 11-7 but Henry Buenrostro (Santa Ana HS) held the Chargers to only three hits in the final three innings with three strikeouts. Nick Culver (Esperanza HS) recorded his first win of the year as he pitched 2 2/3 innings in relief of starting pitcher Brad Wilson (Pacifica HS). Culver allowed two runs on four hits with one strikeout as he improved to 1-0 on the season.
NEXT: Santa Ana at Cypress, Tuesday, April 29 at 2:30 p.m. |
