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Dons Come From Behind to Win Game 1 Over Ventura
SANTA ANA, CA - Trailing 7-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Santa Ana College (SAC) baseball team had two runners on with one out and Kyle Hardman (Mission Viejo HS) at bat. Ventura College's Jacob Regalado delivered a 3-2 pitch to Hardman who crushed the ball to left field to tie the game. Matt Allen (Orange HS) delivered the knock-out blow with a single to left field that scored Travis Leverson (Chaparral HS) for the game-winning run.
The Dons (33-11) entered the game as the top-seed in the Southern California Regional Baseball Playoffs and were playing host to #16 Ventura College. The Pirates quickly showed that they were for real as Jose Vargas hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning.
Casey Rihn (La Habra HS) answered with a solo home run of his own to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first. Ventura took the lead back at 2-1 when Garrett Rau scored from second base on a bunt by Collin LaVoie.
SAC answered in the bottom half of the inning as Hardman doubled in Allen to tie the game at 2-2 and later scored the go-ahead run on a single by Derek Eligio (Esperanza HS).
Ventura came back to tie the game at 3-3 when Zack Anderson reached on a throwing error and later scored on a two-out double by Maxxton Skore in the fourth inning. The Pirates extended their lead to 5-3 as they scored on a fielding error and a sacrifice fly to center field.
Jake Eccles (Temescal Canyon HS) led the seventh inning off with a double to right-center field and advanced to third on a single by Leverson. Allen then hit a sacrifice fly to left field allowing Eccles to score and cut the lead to 5-4.
Brett Fick led the top of the eighth inning off for Ventura with a single and scored in the next at-bat as Anderson hit a two-run home run to right field to put the Pirates up 7-4.
Nick Capito (La Quinta HS) came in to pitch in relief of the Dons' starting pitcher Brandon Pinder (Centennial HS) in the eighth inning. He shut the Pirates out in the eighth and retired all three batters in a row in the ninth, setting up the bottom of the ninth for the Dons' offense.
Leverson led the ninth off with a ground ball to the short stop who threw the ball into SAC's dugout, advancing Leverson to second. Allen followed with a walk and Rihn flew out to left field. Hardman then tied the game with his three-run home run and Capito and Eric Cendejas (Corona HS) combined to shut out the Pirates in the tenth.
With two outs in the in the bottom of the tenth inning, Leverson doubled to right-center field and advanced to third on a balk. The balk came on a botched attempt of the "hidden ball trick." Allen followed with the game-winning single to left field to give the Dons the 8-7 victory.
Hardman led SAC with four RBIs while going 3-for-5 from the plate. Allen, Rihn and Eligio each had a RBI in the win. Cendejas improved to 5-1 on the season as he struck out the only batter he faced to pick the win.
The two teams will meet again Saturday morning in game two of the best-of-three series at 11:00 a.m. |
