OCC ties series against Irvine Valley

Orange Coast College's baseball team defeated Irvine Valley College in a close game on Thursday with the final score 5-4.

Game one

The series did not get off to a good start for the Pirates as they failed to complete the comeback against the Lasers on Tuesday with the final score of 8-6.

The Pirates were down 8-3 to start the ninth inning in Tuesday’s game.

Isaiah Morales hit a two-run RBI double to left center field to cut the drought to 8-5. 

He scored later on in the inning after a sacrifice fly to left field by sophomore infielder Jake Lappin to make the score 8-6.  

The game ended with a flyout to left field by freshman infielder Alec Gomez.

“I know our offense was kind of in a never give up type of thing,” Johnson said. “[The offense] finds ways to score runs. They do not give up and they always compete during their at-bats and that kind of showed in that ninth inning.”

Pitching continued to be a struggle for the Pirates as they gave up six runs on five hits, two walks and three IVC players got hit by a pitch in just the first three innings in Tuesday’s game.

“There is a compete factor to it of going out there and just leave it all on the line,” Johnson said. “Just throw the pitch that you want to throw and have some conviction behind that pitch, attacking and not falling behind hitters, not walking or hitting guys, and that got us in trouble [Tuesday] like it has this whole season.”

Game two

The Pirates survived the Lasers on the road in a close game 5-4 on Thursday. 

Freshman infielder Isaiah Morales contributed the most for the Pirates as he finished Thursday with three RBIs.

Morales hit a sacrifice fly to left field in the top of the fourth inning, allowing sophomore outfielder Cameron Mahaffy to score the first run of the game. 

Morales hit a two-RBI double to right field to give the Pirates a 4-2 lead in the top of the sixth inning.

Sophomore outfielder Cary Arbolida gave OCC the lead for good in the top of the eighth inning, when he hit a sacrifice fly to deep right-center field. Sophomore infielder Tyler Weaver tagged all the way from second base to give the Pirates the lead 5-4. 

The Pirates will now return home and look to take the series against Irvine Valley on Saturday at noon.

The concluding game of the series at home is not only going to decide the winner of the series, but is also going to be an emotional morning, because the John Altobelli Park dedication ceremony will commence at 11:30 a.m.

“Obviously, I said some words before our very first home game, and that was the unofficial dedication,” OCC baseball head coach Nate Johnson said. “The official dedication is going to be nice to kind of solidify it and everyone is going to recognize that.”

“It will be nice that both teams are going to be wearing 14 jerseys and hats,” Johnson said. “We’ll kind of close the chapter and honor [Altobelli] one more time.”