JC baseball: Pirates rally, advance

GLENDALE - The Orange Coast College baseball team needed only one

game to finish the job Sunday, rallying twice to top host Glendale, 9-8,

to win one Southern California Regional.

The victory propels Coach John Altobelli’s Pirates (32-12) into a

best-of-three Super Regional series, beginning Friday, against an

opponent to be determined.

Orange Coast, the designated home team, received some heroic

performances from some unlikely sources Sunday, after Glendale stormed to

leads of 4-0 and 7-1.

Orange Coast sophomore Chris Sinner put the Pirates on the board with

a solo homer in the fifth and Ryan Marcos, whom Altobelli said has been

struggling offensively, keyed a six-run seventh with a three-run double.

Freshman Donnie Murphy followed a pair of singles with an RBI single

to get the seventh-inning uprising going. A push-bunt single by Scott

Beerer and an RBI single by Jeremy Lahmann made it 7-3 and set the table

for Marcos.

The sophomore, who had fanned twice and grounded meekly to first in

his first three at-bats, whacked a change-up into the left-field corner

to plate three runs. He went to third on the throw home and was allowed

to score, tying the game, when the ball caromed out of play.

Glendale answered with a run in the eighth, but sophomore reliever

Greg Schwenn, who has missed most of the season with an injured shoulder

muscle, kept the Pirates in the game.

Joe Morrison began the rally that gave Schwenn his first win of the

season with a two-out infield single in the ninth. Jake Garcia singled

and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Sinner then grounded a single

up the middle, driving in the tying and winning runs.

Sinner was 3 for 5 with three RBIs, Beerer was 3 for 4, and Murphy

went 2 for 4. Garcia, who came off the bench in the fourth inning when

Glenn Hedgepeth was hit by a pitch and left with what Altobelli fears may

be a broken hand, went 2 for 3 and scored twice.

Glendale finishes 34-13.

SOCAL REGIONALS

Orange Coast 9, Glendale 8

Glendale 001 301 210 - 8 11 2

Orange Coast 000 010 602 - 9 16 2

Marble, Pastrada (7) and Shalak; Clanton, Treece (4), Williams (4),

Schwenn (6) and Hanson. W - Schwenn, 1-0. L - Pastrada. 2B - Stablie (G),

Marcos (OCC), 3B - Stablie (G). HR - Stablie (G), Shalak (G), Bowman

(G), Wells (G), Sinner (OCC).