Community College Baseball: Pirates limping to finish
MISSION VIEJO — On the morning of April 7, the Orange Coast College baseball team had sole possession of the Orange Empire Conference lead and was on a seven-game winning streak.
Just more than two weeks later, the Pirates are on the precipice of being the conference’s No. 4 playoff candidate, have lost three straight games, and six of their last seven.
Yet after a 3-1 setback at Saddleback on Tuesday that brings the Gauchos (23-12, 10-10 in conference) within one game of OCC (20-15, 11-9) in the battle for third with the conference finale Thursday, OCC Coach John Altobelli said his team has done enough to earn a postseason berth and the right to defend its state championship.
“I think we’re in either way,” Altobelli said, addressing Thursday’s home date with Saddleback. A Gauchos’ win would create a tie for third that could also include Fullerton, should it defeat Cypress on Thursday.
In that scenario, Saddleback, having won two of three from OCC, and matched OCC’s 4-2 record against its fellow third-place finishers, would be the conference’s No. 3 team for playoff consideration. OCC would be No. 4 and Fullerton would be No. 5 when it comes to collecting potential postseason bids.
If Saddleback wins and Fullerton loses, leaving only OCC and Saddleback tied for third, Saddleback has the tiebreaker with OCC and would get a postseason nod ahead of the Pirates, who Altobelli said are also a solid bet to get an at-large bid.
“I think with RPI and everything, we should be fine,” said Altobelli, whose team has led in all three games of its recent losing streak.
“It’s frustrating,” Altobelli said of Tuesday’s come-from-ahead loss, in which his team, ranked No. 5 in Southern California, managed just two hits in the final seven innings. “We had a chance to play for a conference championship a couple weeks ago and we came out flat. We were battling for our butts [Tuesday] and it was dead in the dugout. I don’t know what it was.”
Things began well for OCC for which five of its first nine batters reached base. Sophomore starting pitcher and designated hitter Stephen Corona doubled to open the second inning and freshman first baseman J.T. McLellan doubled him home to open the scoring.
Sophomore left fielder Stefan Panayiotou followed with a line drive back to the box that caromed off the back of Saddleback pitcher Cameron Aufderheide’s head and into the glove of the shortstop for an out. Though Aufderheide remained conscious and was able to walk off on his own power, he was done for the day. That turned out to be bad news for the Pirates.
“The worst thing that happened to us was knocking [Aufderheide] out, because we were able to do some things there,” Altobelli said. “Then [sophomore University of Tennessee bounce-back Trevor Charpie] came on in relief and was outstanding. Boy, Charpie dealt and did a great job.”
Charpie allowed three hits and struck out six in 7 2/3 scoreless innings to deliver his most effective and longest outing of the season.
Corona, coming off eight shutout innings of a 4-0 win at Irvine Valley on April 13 at Irvine Valley College, his first start and only his second appearance of the season, blanked the Gauchos through five innings.
But a single, a walk, then back-to-back run-producing singles by Saddleback chased Corona, in favor of sophomore reliever Dominic Purpura. The Gauchos greeted Purpura with another RBI single to finalize the scoring and give the hosts eight wins in their last 10 contests.
Sophomore shortstop Jeff Nellis was two for three to pace OCC’s six-hit attack.
OCC’s late-season slide provides stark contrast to 2014, when it won its final six regular-season games to claim a share of the OEC crown with Santa Ana. OCC then went an unprecedented 9-0 run in the postseason to not only capture the state title, but also the mythical national championship.
A win Thursday would give OCC sole possession of third place and a certain spot in the postseason.
“We’re going to get after it, just because we need to [Thursday],” Altobelli said.
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Orange Empire Conference
Saddleback 3, Orange Coast 1
SCORE BY INNINGS
OCC 010 000 000 – 1 6 1
Sad 000 003 00x – 3 8 1
Corona, Purpura (6) and Kruger; Aufderheide, Charpie (2) and Worden. W – Charpie, 2-2. L – Corona, 1-1. 2B – Corona (OCC), McLellan (OCC), Schultz (S).