Community College Baseball: Pirates remain alive
GLENDALE — For more than a year, the Orange Coast College baseball team was impossible to beat in the playoffs. But after an 11-game postseason winning streak was snapped on Friday, the Pirates proved Saturday that they are equally difficult to count out.
OCC, the No. 10 seed, rallied to earn a 4-2 win at No. 8-seeded Glendale in the Super Regional round of the Southern California Regional playoffs on Saturday. The win set up a deciding game in the best-of-three series on Sunday at noon, also at Glendale.
The Pirates (24-16), who went unbeaten in nine postseason games en route to the 2014 state championship, twice erased one-run deficits. They also overcame some early missed opportunities, and parlayed two quality pitching performances into the most important win of their season thus far.
Sophomore reliever Scott Serigstad worked 3 1/3 hitless innings to earn the victory after sophomore Dominic Purpura battled through 5 2/3 innings to keep his team in it.
Sophomore second baseman Chaneng Varela had a pair of run-producing singles, the second a squeeze bunt in the seventh that broke a 2-2 tie, to pace the Pirates’ six-hit attack.
Varela singled through the box with two outs to plate OCC’s first run in the third inning to knot things after the Dylan Bahr stole home in the opening frame for the Vaqueros (21-19).
After Glendale, the designated visitor, used two singles and a walk to regain the lead in the sixth inning, sophomore designated hitter Stephen Corona doubled in the left-center-field gap to pull OCC even.
Freshman third baseman Nick Grimes led off the OCC seventh with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman center fielder Chris Prescott. Sophomore shortstop Jeff Nellis produced a routine ground ball to the second baseman that was booted for an error to put runners on the corners.
That’s when OCC Coach John Altobelli, who saw his team fail to score after putting runners on second and third base with no outs in the third inning, called for Varela to squeeze. Varela deftly dropped his bunt along the first-base line and Glendale reliever Andy Frakes couldn’t field it in time to make a play, as Grimes scored to give OCC the lead for good.
Sophomore right fielder Tommy Bell then drove in Nellis with a groundout and the Pirates, who scratched out only two hits and had only one runner reach second base in a 13-0 series-opening loss Friday at Casey Stengel Field, staved off elimination.
Grimes was one for two with two walks and two runs to help OCC overcome Glendale starter Christian Keamy, who struck out seven through four innings and allowed only four hits before exiting after the sixth inning.
Three Glendale pitchers collected nine strikeouts, but walked three and hit a batter. They were also victimized by three errors, two of their own commission, that led to one unearned run.
Harrison Hoff was three for four to pace the Vaqueros’ seven-hit attack.
It was the second relief victory of the postseason for Serigstad, who is 2-0 with one save in his last three appearances. In compiling nine innings in those three outings, he has not allowed a run and surrendered only two hits, while walking one and fanning eight.
Frakes, a sophomore side-armer who earned first-team All-Western State Conference laurels and was 5-0 with four saves coming in, allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits in his only inning to absorb his first loss.
Altobelli chose to start Purpura on Saturday, rather than Corona, who had been the No. 2 starter behind sophomore ace Art Vidrio. Altobelli said Corona would take the ball on Sunday.
The Super Regional winners advance to a best-of-three sectional series for the right to compete in the four-team state championship in Fresno.
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Southern California Super Regional
Orange Coast 4, Glendale 2
SCORE BY INNINGS
GCC 100 001 000 – 2 7 2
OCC 001 000 20x – 4 6 0
Keamy, Frakes (7), Lane (8) and Gomez; Purpura, Serigstad (6) and Kruger. W – Serigstad, 6-3. L – Frakes, 5-1. 2B – Corona (OCC).