Pirates, Banda play on

Barry Faulkner

Athletes and coaches regularly hope that good fortune smiles upon

their season. But for the Orange Coast College baseball team, it has

been more of a side-splitting guffaw than a smile this spring.

The Pirates blew a 5-1 lead Friday against visiting Irvine Valley,

but came through in the bottom of the ninth to earn a 6-5 victory in

the first round of the four-team super regional tournament.

It was the seventh win in the last eight one-run games for OCC

(27-15), which meets fellow Orange Empire Conference co-champion

Santa Ana today at 11 a.m. in the second round at OCC. The winner of

that game advances to Sunday’s championship showdown of the

double-elimination event.

The Pirates, now 9-4 in one-run decisions this season, would

acknowledge it is at least as beneficial to be lucky as good. But

they are also firm in their belief that such sustained serendipity

could not continue without more than a fair amount of talent and

tenacity.

“Get Lucky!!!” is one of two inspirational signs posted in the OCC

dugout. It is both a reference and a retort, sophomore catcher and

Friday’s offensive hero Josh Banda said, to opposing teams that think

the Pirates can thank luck for the share of their first conference

crown since 1987 and their quest for their first state crown since

1980.

“A lot of other teams just say that we’re getting lucky,” said

Banda, whose bases-loaded, line single to center field broke the 5-5

tie with one out in the ninth. “But it’s not that we’re getting

lucky, it’s that we put in a lot of sweat and hard work at practice

and it’s finally paying off.”

Banda, whose eight homers and 39 RBIs rank second on the team,

provided the biggest dividends Friday.

In addition to his game-winner, which greeted IVC reliever Grant

Harrell and came on a 1-2 pitch, the Artesia High product fisted a

line-drive single to shallow center to drive in two runs in the

fifth. The fifth-inning clutch hit turned a 2-1 cushion into a 4-1

lead. It also bolstered Banda’s confidence, he said.

“I told [assistant coach Josh Belovsky] before I got up to the

plate [in the ninth], that I was going to do the same thing,” Banda

said.

OCC Coach John Altobelli said winning in dramatic fashion has

become old hat this season.

“This is nothing new to us,” he said. “We’re horrible with a lead.

It’s frustrating. We come out and score four [in the fifth], then we

kick a routine double-play ball and it’s like ‘Here we go again.’ ”

Robbie Blauer singled in a run and Gary Gattis produced another

RBI for OCC in the four-run fifth, on a slow grounder to third. Two

of IVC’s five errors also extended the rally.

But the Lasers (27-14), who the Pirates have now swept in four

meetings this spring, scored four of their own in the sixth.

The third OCC error of the game made all but one of those runs

unearned, denying Pirate starting pitcher Ryan Clear a chance for the

victory.

Instead, Daniel Cooper, a freshman reliever out of Costa Mesa

High, earned his eighth win in 11 decisions with 3 2/3 innings of

shutout relief.

Cooper, however, gave up a two-out, RBI single in the sixth that

allowed the Lasers to pull even, 5-5.

“I figured with Cooper in there, sure enough he’ll give up the

lead, then we’ll get the lead and he’ll get his typical vulture win,”

Altobelli said. “That’s how it has been working out.”

Blauer, who also sparkled defensively at first base, went 3 for 5

and was credited with two RBIs, while Gattis and Stephen Cope had two

hits apiece for the winners.

Sophomore left fielder Luke Beck, the Orange Empire Co-Player of

the Year, made a diving catch on a sinking liner to end the IVC

seventh and save at least one run.

“That was a Top-10 [plays on SportsCenter] nominee,” Banda said of

Beck’s catch.

IVC outhit the Pirates, 14-10, but left 14 men on base, while OCC

stranded eight.

IVC starter Chris Saddoris was the tough-luck loser. He gave up

two earned runs in 8 1/3 innings.

Super regional

First round

Orange Coast 6,

Irvine Valley 5

Score by Innings

*--*

IVC 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 - 5 14 5

OCC 0 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 1 - 6 10 3

*--*

Saddoris, Harrell (9) and Mier; Clear, Cooper (6) and Banda. W --

Cooper, 8-3. L -- Saddoris, 6-4.