Community college baseball: Pirates advance

SAN LUIS OBISPO - The Orange Coast College baseball team earned a

pair of dramatic 10-inning victories Saturday to stay alive at the

Southern California Regional playoffs at Cuesta College.

Freshman Chris Sinner tripled in a run with two outs in the ninth to

tie Citrus in the opener, then the Pirates exploded for seven runs in the

10th for an 11-4 triumph.

Another two-out triple, this time by seldom-used freshman catcher

Cliff Cotton, allowed OCC to pull even with Grossmont, which had scored

once to go ahead, 8-7, in the top of the 10th. Jake Garcia then singled

in Cotton for the game-winner in a 9-8 verdict, propelling the Pirates

into today’s 11 a.m. game against host Cuesta.

The Pirates need two victories today over the Cougars, who defeated

them, 6-1, Friday, to earn one of four berths to the Southern California

finals.

Sinner was 3 for 5 with two RBIs in the first game and added two hits

against Grossmont.

Scott Beerer, a Newport Harbor High product, had three hits in each

game, including three RBIs against Citrus, to help the OCC cause.

Freshman Rob Williams earned the victory in relief of Justin Azze

against Citrus, while Glenn Hedgpeth picked up the relief win against

Grossmont.

OCC, seeded 15th out of 16 playoff teams, improved to 26-17.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONALS

Orange Coast 11, Citrus 4

Orange Coast 001 010 101 7 - 11 14 0

Citrus 000 201 100 0 - 4 10 0

Azze, Williams (7) and Murphy, Cotton (10); Tracy, Stelzride (10),

Escobra (10), Kono (10), Dorn (10) and Smith. W - Williams. L -

Stelzride. 2B - Marcos (OCC), Robles (C). 3B - Sinner (OCC). HR - Diblari

(C).

Orange Coast 8, Grossmont 7

Grossmont 001 202 001 1 - 7 15 2

Orange Coast 004 000 200 2 - 8 15 0

Karstens, no name (8), no name (10) and Allen; Foxman, Courvoisier

(4), Estrada (5), Erickson (6), Hedgpeth (8) and Murphy, Cotton (8). W -

Hedgpeth. L - n/a. 2B - Cortez (G) 2, Reed (G), Allen (G), Risnez (G). 3B

- Cotton (OCC), Garcia (OCC). HR - Cortez (G).