Community College Baseball: Pirates remain red hot

Orange Coast College pitcher Art Vidrio limped to the dugout following a 7-1, complete-game victory over visiting Fullerton on Thursday.

But you should have seen the other guy(s).

It was a final-out comebacker off the heel of his left foot that was the source of Vidrio’s postgame discomfort. But Vidrio and his suddenly surging teammates convincingly claimed yet another round in their quest for an Orange Empire Conference baseball title.

Vidrio surrendered seven hits and just one run in a 7-1 triumph. It was the second straight route-going effort for the sophomore left-hander, who improved to 6-1 and now with 14 career wins, moved into a tie for ninth on the school’s all-time victories list. Vidrio, who tossed a one-hit shutout in his previous start, a 5-0 home triumph against Riverside, needs one more win to tie former major-leaguer Dan Quisenberry in the No. 8 spot.

Vidrio’s kick save to end the game put a capper on a productive fielding day, in which he recorded seven assists and one putout. He also struck out six and walked two and, after yielding six hits in the first four innings, gave up just one more. He faced just two more than the minimum in the final five frames and benefited from three double plays to frustrate the Hornets (17-8, 7-4 in conference).

OCC, which had 12 singles and a solo home run to extend its winning streak to six, is now 18-9, 9-3. Coach John Altobelli’s defending state and national champions, who were 3-3 in their first six conference games, are atop the conference, one game ahead of Cypress and now two up on Fullerton.

The six-game win streak is the longest of the season for OCC, and mirrors last season’s late-season run in which the Pirates won their final 15 games.

“It feels good,” said Vidrio, who threw 110 pitches Thursday, 15 fewer than he tossed against Riverside. “It definitely feels good to get a couple wins in a row, especially when we felt like we were struggling a little bit [before the streak]. I definitely feel like we’re more of a team right now and that has helped us out a lot.”

Altobelli praised Vidrio’s strong performance, but said the key to the streak may be an altered lineup in which he has swapped singles hitters for big-swinging boppers.

“I like the new lineup,” Altobelli said of recent additions Nick Grimes (12 for 24 during the streak, including two for four Thursday), Chris Prescott, Chaneng Varela (both two for four) and Jeff Nellis (one for four). It’s a little scrappier and there are not so many big swings in there. These guys are kind of buying into the hitting formula and I can do some things with this group, like hit and run and bunt. I thought they all had a lot of quality at-bats [Thursday].”

Sophomore catcher Jack Kruger was two for three with one run and one run batted in, while freshman first baseman J.T. McLellan was one for three with three RBIs.

Sophomore leadoff man Robert Longtree was two for four and was one of six Pirates to score.

Sophomore Tommy Bell launched his first home run of the season in the first inning to increase his team-leading RBI total to 19.

After Fullerton tied the score on three straight singles in the second, OCC, which put its leadoff hitter aboard in six of eight innings, scored once in the fourth and added four in the fifth.

In addition to Vidrio’s solid defense, Nellis ranged from his shortstop position, past second base, and spun to throw to first for an out on the game’s most dazzling web gem. McClellan, who is now filling in for Cole Rutherford (out for the season after dislocating his ankle Saturday at Santa Ana), made a sweeping backhanded scoop of a low throw to complete a double play in the first inning.

“We’ve been playing really good defense,” Altobelli said. “We’re stepping up and starting to play good baseball at the right time.”

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Orange Empire Conference

Orange Coast 7, Fullerton 1

SCORE BY INNINGS

FCC 010 000 000 – 1 7 2

OCC 100 140 10x – 7 13 0

Cardenas, Castaneda (6), Merritt (8) and Basehart; Vidrio and Kruger. W – Vidrio, 6-1. L – Cardenas, 2-4. HR – Bell (OCC).