Big rally vaults Coast into first

Bryce Alderton

The first inning started sweet, the middle innings turned sour, but

the end result, for the Orange Coast College baseball team, was

clearly one to savor.

Up, 6-0, after two innings and down, 10-6, after six, Orange Coast

wouldn’t let the opportunity to move into sole possession of first

place in the Orange Empire Conference slip through its fingers

against visiting Cypress Thursday.

The Pirates rallied for seven runs, all with two outs, in the

bottom of the seventh, capping an 18-hit attack that helped produce a

13-10 error- and hit-filled victory over the Chargers. The win

vaulted OCC into a half-game lead.

Cypress, ranked No. 1 in the March 21 Southern California coaches’

poll, downed Coast, 20-4, March 3.

“They hammered us the first game, so we owed them one,” said Coast

sophomore first baseman Robbie Blauer, who tied Stephen Cope for the

team lead with four hits in five at-bats Thursday.

“We never gave up,” said Blauer, whose single in the seventh

plated two runs to tie the score at 10.

Josh Banda and Luke Beck each followed with RBI singles to cap an

inning extended when Cypress third baseman Evan Hudson booted a

grounder hit by Matt Cline with the bases loaded and two outs.

Cope scored to make it 10-7 and Bobby Slater began a succession of

four straight hits that gave the Pirates (14-9-1, 6-1-1 in the OEC)

the three-run margin they would hold for their ninth victory in 12

games.

Freshman Daniel Cooper, a Costa Mesa High product, improved to 4-1

with 2 2/3 innings of relief, after starter Ryan Clear held the

Chargers (17-6, 6-2) scoreless through four as Coast built a 6-0

lead.

The Chargers, second in the conference in hitting (.319), stormed

back with two runs in the fourth and eight in the sixth.

Only three of their eight runs in the sixth were earned as the

Pirates committed three of their six errors in the frame.

Cooper allowed five runs, all unearned, in the sixth and settled

down to retire the side in order in the seventh.

Justin Peterson, another Costa Mesa product, entered with a runner

at third and two outs in the eighth, but induced an inning-ending

groundout.

Beck, who finished 3 for 5 with two RBIs and a run scored, pitched

a scoreless ninth for his fourth save.

Cline, Banda and Danny Gonzales each had two hits and scored twice

for the Pirates.

Nine of Coast’s runs were unearned while Cypress tallied seven

unearned runs in a game of extreme shifts in momentum.

A 6-0 lead helped the Pirates’ confidence against a team that led,

10-0, in the prior meeting.

“We try to play vanilla, not get too fancy and slow the game

down,” Altobelli said. “The team was confident.

Coast’s last conference title came in 1987.

The Pirates visit Cypress Saturday at noon.

Orange Empire Conference

Orange Coast 13,

Cypress 10 Score by Innings

*--*

Cypress 0 0 0 0 2 8 0 0 0 - 10 13 4

OCC 4 2 0 0 0 0 7 0 x - 13 18 6

*--*

Rhodes, Crichton (1), Kalmen (7), Etheridge (7) and Wallach;

Clear, Cooper (6), Peterson (8), Beck (9) and Banda. W -- Cooper,

4-1. L -- Kalmen, 4-1. Sv -- Beck (4). 2B -- Wallach (C), Martinez

(C), Cline (OCC), Banda (OCC).