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JC Baseball: OCC trio earn top honors

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Orange Coast College sophomores Cody Nulph, David Hill and Jacob Hill top 10 Pirates named All-Orange Empire Conference in baseball after helping OCC earn a share of the conference title and a No. 1 seed in the Southern California playoffs.

Nulph, a shortstop bound for Auburn University, is the Player of the Year while the Hills, identical twins bound for the University of San Diego, share Pitcher of the Year laurels.

OCC’s John Altobelli shares Coach of the Year honors the fifth time he has been so honored.

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Nulph led OCC (27-9) with a .393 batting average in conference play and is hitting .399 overall heading into the best-of-three regional series against visiting El Camino that opens Friday. Nulph had seven of his 13 doubles and 13 of his 23 runs batted in against conference foes, while adding strong defense.

David Hill, the Sunday starter at Long Beach State in 2013, went 5-1 with three complete games and a conference-best 1.11 earned-run average in conference play. He struck out 55 in 64 2/3 innings against OEC hitters. Overall, David Hill is 9-1 in 12 starts with an 0.91 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 88 2/3 innings.

Jacob Hill, a seldom-used reliever at OCC last season, went 7-0 with a 1.37 ERA in conference, striking out 36 in 46 innings. He was 9-0 with a 1.33 ERA overall, producing 54 strikeouts in 61 innings.

The Hill brothers helped anchor an OCC staff that had a conference-best 2.01 ERA in OEC contests.

Also representing the Pirates on the first team were Tommy Bell, Cody Bruder and Daniel Delaney.

Bell, a sophomore right fielder, hit .395 overall in the regular season four home runs and 33 RBIs. Of his 47 hits, 116 were for extra bases and he added four stolen bases.

Bruder, a sophomore center fielder, hit .369 with one homer, 22 RBIs, 55 hits and 29 runs in the regular season. He stole five bases and had seven triples.

Delaney, a sophomore catcher, hit .294 with two home runs and 13 RBIs in the regular season. One-third of his 30 hits went for extra-bases.

Pirates named to the second team are sophomore first baseman Chris Iriart, sophomore left fielder Robert Longtree, sophomore second baseman Justin Broussard and sophomore reliever Dominic Purpura.

Iriart, who leads the state with right home runs, drove in a team-best 38 while hitting .326. He had 44 hits and 28 runs, while stealing two bases.

Longtree hit .316 with five stolen bases, 10 RBIs and 22 hits, while Broussard batted .289 with six RBIs in just 45 at-bats during the regular season.

Purpura allowed two earned runs in 18 1/3 innings spanning 11 appearances, all out of the bullpen. He won his only decision, posted one save and compiled an ERA of 0.98.

— From staff reports

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