Baseball: Pirates drop heartbreaker to Saddleback

COSTA MESA - The Orange Coast College baseball team dropped into a

third-place Orange Empire Conference tie with Saddleback after the

visiting Gauchos pulled out a 4-3 win over the Pirates Tuesday afternoon.

Josh McCanne went 3 for 4 with an RBI for the Pirates (22-11, 10-7 in

conference), while Ryan Marcos went 1 for 3, with a home run, his fourth

of the season, two runs scored and one RBI.

Mark Courvoisier pitched seven strong innings and allowed only three

earned runs with five strikeouts and no walks, but took the loss.

Scott Cheo had two RBIs, while Vinny Valiente added two hits, a run

scored and one RBI for the Gauchos (26-9, 10-7).

The Pirates will look to snap their three-game losing streak Thursday

at Cypress, beginning at 2 p.m.

ORANGE EMPIRE CONFERENCE

Saddleback 4, Orange Coast 3

Saddleback 000 210 100 - 4 10 2

Orange Coast 010 020 000 - 3 8 1

Lopez, Wright (5), Williams (8) and Dobek; Courvoisier, Williams (8)

and Murphy. W - Wright, 8-1. L - Courvoisier, 3-2. Sv - Williams (4). 2B

- LaRue (S), Wyatt. HR - Marcos (OCC).