Arms made OCC dangerous

Among all the pieces that came together for Orange Coast College in its run to a second straight state baseball championship, pitching proved most crucial.

The starting rotation of proven veteran Art Vidrio, one-time closer Dominic Purpura, and late-season insertion Stephen Corona, who started all season at designated hitter, and a bullpen led by former starter Scott Serigstad, were dominant in a 9-2 postseason run that included two shutouts and only three earned runs allowed in three state tournament triumphs.

Purpura blanked nationally top-ranked San Joaquin Delta, 5-0, on seven hits to open the state tournament at Fresno City College on Saturday. He recorded the final three outs in the title-clinching 9-4 victory over Delta on Monday and finished 5-1 with seven saves and a 2.53 earned-run average.

Purpura’s driving personality and infectious confidence lifted the entire team and his move to the rotation from the bullpen may have been the single most crucial event of the season.

Purpura will choose between Division-I opportunities at Oregon, Baylor, Ohio State, San Diego State and San Francisco, and he will bring a championship pedigree to his next stop. In his last five seasons, he has competed in the state championship event; the last two at OCC as well as his sophomore, junior and senior seasons at Nazareth Academy, a private school in a suburb of Chicago.

Vidrio, who worked the first 5 2/3 innings of Sunday’s 3-0 shutout win over Palomar and was the 2014 state tournament MVP after a 4-0 postseason, finished 9-3 this season with a 2.90 ERA. He was 17-7 in his career and is tied for No. 5 on the school’s all-time victories list. He was 6-2 in the postseason in two seasons, including 2-0 in two state tournament starts.

OCC Coach John Altobelli said Vidrio should be on the short list of the most productive pitchers in the program’s history.

Corona, who made his first start on April 17 as a proposed solution to what at the time was some inconsistent starting pitching, was 3-1 with a 1.72 ERA entering Monday, when he allowed two runs and five hits in two innings before being lifted. In his three previous postseason starts, Corona had allowed two earned runs in 14 2/3 innings to earn two wins and a no-decision. OCC won all four of his postseason starts. He also hit .289 with three home runs and 18 runs batted in as a DH.

Serigstad, who missed Sunday’s game to attend his sister’s wedding in Tustin, then drove back to Fresno to arrive an hour before Monday’s 11 a.m. title game, was statistically the most effective postseason pitcher for the Pirates (30-17).

With six shutout innings in which he allowed only one hit to record the win and improve to 7-3 on Monday, Serigstad’s six postseason appearances yielded just one earned run and eight hits in 23 innings. He struck out 25 during that stretch with two wins and a save. He finished with a 2.43 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 77 2/3 innings.

“Absolutely outstanding,” OCC sophomore catcher Jack Kruger said of the postseason pitching, which until Delta scored twice in the third inning on Monday had compiled 26 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in the state tournament, dating back to last season.

“Through the playoffs, our pitchers have been absolutely unbelievable,” Kruger said. “It has been ridiculous. Dom gave us a crucial start on Friday and he’s just so competitive. Art was obviously strong [Sunday], then [freshman Jack] Pabich came in late [3 1/3 innings of shutout relief to earn his fourth save]. And Corona gave us his best [Monday] until Scotty picked him up and kept us in the game. And, of course, Dom coming in and closing [Monday]. There was no better guy to close it than Dom. It was fitting, because he was a big part of the back-to-back titles.”

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•Purpura, who threw 107 pitches for his first collegiate complete game Saturday, allowed singles to three of the first four hitters he faced Monday, prompting a mound visit from Altobelli that the veteran coach said became humorous.

“[Purpura] told me ‘Get back in the dugout, old man,’” Altobelli said. “I was laughing, and I said ‘OK, then, get us out of here.’”

Purpura then retired the next two hitters to become the focal point of the traditional celebratory dog pile.

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•One key element of the pitching staff’s success, Altobelli said, was Kruger, a sophomore Oregon bounce-back who shared tournament MVP honors with Purpura after going four for eight with two RBIs and two runs.

“Jack grinded it out every day behind the plate leading our pitching staff,” Altobelli said of Kruger, who also led the team with in batting (.310), hits (52), ranked second with 33 runs and third with 23 RBIs, primarily from the cleanup spot. “I thought he needed credit, because he was guiding our pitchers all the way.”

Kruger, whose hard-nosed determination and competitiveness made him an obvious leader, displayed his team-first sensibility when asked if earning Co-MVP laurels made the championship any more sweet.

“Not really,” he said without considering the question for any time at all. “Obviously it’s nice, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters is the big trophy that we all get and it says 2015 state champions. [MVP] is nice, sure. But it’s so small in comparison, it doesn’t really matter.”

Purpura also chimed in with appreciation for his battery mate.

“He did a phenomenal job for us all year,” Purpura said. “He’s the Brian Urlacher of our team, you know, constantly barking out plays and telling us where we need to go with the ball. He makes it all happen.”

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•Another element that emerged about OCC’s successful postseason run was the ability of its hitters to make adjustments as the game went along.

During its 11-game postseason run, OCC scored 64 runs. Only seven of those came in the first three innings, while 54 were posted between the fourth and eighth innings, including a high of 18 in the eighth.

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•Altobelli, as he did last year, invited the parents into the team’s postgame gathering in the outfield to hear some comments from the coaches. He thanked his players for buying in, hustling, scrapping and fighting to get the most out of their abilities on their way to a championship season that was “amazing to watch.”

He also said the 2015 season may just be the most rewarding coaching experience of his 23-year tenure at the school.

Altobelli announced that the annual championship-ring-sizing party would be next week at his home, and continued the “Why not us?” theme that became a battle cry for the underdog Pirates all postseason.

“Why not three [straight state championships]?” someone suggested to Altobelli, who answered, “Why not? We’ll give it a shot, that’s for sure. We’ll show up and get after it.”

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•A reminder of his team’s underdog status at a banquet before the state tournament helped motivate OCC players and coaches, Altobelli said.

“The head of our coaches association told everybody at the banquet that there is going to be a national champion coming out of this [tournament],” Altobelli said. “I guarantee you he wasn’t thinking Orange Coast College with 17 losses. I mentioned that to the guys the first day that they don’t even believe in us. So, why not us? I guess we screwed up that national championship stuff.”