Community College Baseball: Pirates upend Tigers
The No. 22 is ever-present around the Orange Coast College baseball diamond. And, clearly, the inspiration wrought by the legacy of the Pirates’ former all-conference catcher Jourdan Watanabe, who died six years ago Thursday, remains alive and well.
Yet again, the numerological evidence connecting Watanabe’s retired jersey number to the Pirates’ good fortune was on display in OCC’s 4-3, come-from-behind, 11-inning victory over Riverside in the Orange Empire Conference opener.
OCC sophomore pinch-hitter Stephen Corona belted a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to erase a 3-1 deficit and force extra innings. It was Corona’s 22nd at-bat of the season.
OCC sophomore Dominic Purpura pitched five shutout innings to earn the victory and up his season total to 22 1/3 innings.
OCC Coach John Altobelli wears a rubber wrist band bearing the slogan “22 Forever a Pirate” to honor Watanabe and had his No. 22 painted on the left-field fence after Watanabe passed away while redshirting during the 2009 season.
Altobelli, who also erected a flag pole from which a banner with the Watanabe slogan began flying during home games this season, said he whispered a request for assistance to the spirit of his former player immediately before the pitch that freshman Nick Grimes lifted a game-winning, walk-off single over the left fielder’s head with two outs and the winning run on second base.
“No lie, right before that pitch,” Altobelli said, I said ‘Come on, J-Wat [Watanabe’s nickname], get us a hit.”
Altobelli, who late last season showed a power-point video presentation honoring Watanabe to his team to spark a 15-game win streak that culminated in a state and national championship — in Altobelli’s 22nd season at the helm — said he once again had his players watch the video before Thursday’s game.
“One of my assistants said I was running out of things to say to motivate these guys,” Altobelli said about his team, which was ranked No. 1 in the preseason Southern California poll but posted a 9-6 pre-conference record that was worst among the eight OEC teams. “So, since this is the six-year anniversary of [Watanabe’s death during the Pirates’ run to the 2009 state crown], we watched the video today. It was pretty emotional and a lot of guys got fired up.”
Purpura, who notched the save in the 2014 state-title-clinching win, said the video may prove to be a catalyst for success again this season.
“Not only does [the video] pay tribute to a great kid who used to go here, it really gets the team closer together and that’s what we needed,” said Purpura, who allowed three hits and struck out four. He stranded a runner at third base in the eighth inning and left men on first and second in the 10th. “Watching that video and coming together as a team was the push. Then, in the bottom of the ninth, we had a pinch-hitter come up and hit a home run.”
When told that Corona’s dinger, only the third for the Pirates this season and their first in nine home games, came on his 22nd at-bat, Purpura reacted strongly.
“Really?” said Purpura, who is now 2-0 with three saves and a 1.61 earned-run average this season. “That is absolutely mind-blowing.”
OCC made some mind-bending mistakes to help the Tigers (12-2) maintain control after the visitors seized a 2-0 first-inning lead.
After sophomore center fielder Robert Longtree was left holding the bag following a two-out triple in the third inning, OCC sophomore Tommy Bell crushed a leadoff triple in the fourth. But after Bell appeared to score on Jack Kruger’s subsequent flyout to shallow left field, he was ruled out for leaving the base too soon when tagging up.
OCC opened four of the first six innings with hits off of Riverside starter Austin Sodders, who came in with a 3-0 record and a 1.57 ERA. The Pirates, who finally broke through when J.T. McClellan singled home Stefan Panayiotou in the seventh, failed to score in the 10th after loading the bases with no outs.
But OCC stater Art Vidrio utilized damage control to keep his team in the game. He stranded six, including leaving the bases loaded in the sixth, before exiting with his team trailing, 3-0. He gave up nine hits.
Longtree went three for four with a walk and his .425 batting average leads the Pirates, for whom Bell also had two hits.
Jeff Nellis, Panayiotou and Cole Rutherford added singles to the Pirates’ 11-hit attack. Rutherford singled with one out in the 11th and went to second when Corona walked. After a pop to the second baseman for the second out, Grimes, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the 10th, came through with his third RBI of the campaign.
“It was a great comeback and we’ve done nothing like that all year,” Altobelli said. “I thought Purpura was awesome and he has just been phenomenal for us this year. Hopefully, this will give us a little motivation moving forward. Last year, I showed the video and we didn’t lose the rest of the season. I’m not counting on that [this season]. I just wanted the guys to come together as a team.
“Watanabe] is my little guardian angel.”
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Orange Empire Conference
Orange Coast 4, Riverside 3
SCORE BY INNING
RCC 200 001 000 00 – 3 12 1
OCC 000 000 102 01 – 4 11 1
Sodders, Avila (8), Lara (9), Robles (10) and Pincin, Fishback (9); Vidrio, Purpura (7) and Kruger. W – Purpura, 2-0. L – Robles, 0-1. 2B – Pincin (RCC), Ayala (RCC), Fuentes (RCC), Weiss (RCC). 3B – Longtree (OCC), Bell (OCC). HR – Corona (OCC).