Pirates still in hunt

COSTA MESA ? The Orange Coast College baseball team has either pitched well in games this season, or hit the cover off the ball, but rarely has it put the two together. On Saturday, the Pirates combined the two ? for the most part.

Orange Coast executed on offense, got a solid effort from starting pitcher Ryan Shopshire and survived a shaky bullpen performance to defeat Saddleback College, 9-8, in an Orange Empire Conference game. The Pirates kept their chances of advancing to the playoffs alive with the victory.

“We were pitching well the last few weeks until recently, when we started hitting but stopped pitching well,” Orange Coast pitching coach Josh Belovsky said. “Now we need to piece them both together.”

The fifth-place Pirates (22-18, 9-12 in conference) will face Saddleback again in the first round of the Orange Empire Conference mini-tournament Tuesday at home. After that, they’ll play host first-place Cypress on Thursday. A strong showing could catapult the Pirates into the postseason.

“Our goal is still to make the playoffs,” Belovsky said. “They typically take five teams out of the Orange Empire Conference, so we have a good shot to get in there. Our destiny is in our own hands.”

The playoffs begin with regionals May 12-14, with the regional finals slated for May 19-20. The four-team state tournament runs May 27-29 in Fresno.

Shopshire went six innings against the Gauchos (28-11, 12-9) on Saturday and allowed two runs on six hits, striking out five and walking one.

The Pirates had a 9-2 lead before the Gauchos made it interesting in the seventh inning. Sean Rooney, who had the game-winning hit in Saddleback’s 7-6 victory over Orange Coast on Thursday, hit a grand slam off sidearm reliever Steven Brown to cut the lead to 9-6.

Chris Palmer replaced Brown and struck out the first two batters he faced to get out of the seventh, then retired the side in order in the eighth.

Mark Haderlein, another sidearmer, came in to close the game for the Pirates in the ninth, but ran into trouble. Haderlein hit No. 9 hitter Joey Hamon with a pitch, then retired the next two batters before Rooney (two for four, four RBIs, three runs) reached on an infield single to put runners on first and third.

Patrick Ferguson, who was hitless with three strikeouts up to that point, poked an RBI single to left field to cut the lead to 9-7.

OCC catcher Chris Lum (two for four, three RBIs) allowed a passed ball on a 2-and-2 count to Gino Aielli that scored Rooney and sent pinch-runner Danny Morrow to second. On the next pitch, Haderlein plunked Aielli, prompting a visit to the mound by Belovsky.

“I just told him to throw strikes down the zone and try to get us a ground ball,” Belovsky said. “I felt he had made some good pitches in the inning. But sometimes minds wander out there and I just wanted to get him to concentrate.”

Haderlein responded by getting ahead in the count to Nick Nelson and came through with the strikeout on a fastball up and away.

“Never a doubt,” joked Orange Coast Coach John Altobelli. “No lead is ever safe in this conference.”

Orange Coast had a four-run fourth inning, sparked by singles by Armando Ambriz, Eric Oliver (two hits, two runs), Taylor Loop and Matt Meadows. But the run the Pirates scratched out in the bottom of the sixth on a walk by Meadows, a single by Stephen Schneider and a sacrifice fly by Lum turned out to be the game-winner.

“The guys are starting to swing the bats,” Altobelli said. “They seem to be walking up to the plate with more confidence.”