Lasers’ strike stops Pirates

COSTA MESA ? For an Orange Coast College baseball team looking for offensive consistency, Jeff Kaplan was not the ideal pitcher to be facing.

The Irvine Valley sophomore, throwing consistently in the low 90s, had a no-hitter through five innings.

The Pirates touched Kaplan for four hits and four runs in the sixth inning, but that was all the offense they could muster in an 8-4 loss to the Lasers in Orange Empire Conference action on Thursday at Wendell Pickens Field.

Kaplan struck out eight batters, walked four and allowed five hits in eight innings before giving way to closer Grant Harrell in the ninth.

“He’s an aggressive pitcher,” Irvine Valley Coach Kent Madole said. “He’s not intimidated by anybody. He has a lot of poise. And Orange Coast is an offensive club. They came back in the sixth. We knew they probably would at some point.”

Kaplan retired the side in order in three of the first five innings before running into trouble in the sixth. Kaplan hit leadoff hitter Garrett Smith with a pitch to open the inning. Then sophomore Keith Mastel broke up Kaplan’s no-hit bid with a single to right field.

Josh Bradbury (Corona del Mar High) broke up the shutout with a line drive double down the left-field line, driving in Smith and sending Mastel to third.

After Eric Oliver struck out and Matt Meadows popped up, Stephen Schneider walked to load the bases for Chris Lum, who doubled to right-center field to bring home two runs.

Nick Rotkowitz followed with an infield single up the middle to drive in Schneider, but Lum was thrown out at home trying to score from second base to end the rally.

The Lasers responded by tacking on a run in the top of the seventh inning on a double by Tim Carrier and an RBI single by Danny Benedetti.

“I think that run kind of took the wind out of our sails in our comeback attempt,” Orange Coast Coach John Altobelli said.

After getting roughed up in the sixth inning, Kaplan came back strong to hold the Pirates to one hit in the seventh and eighth innings. Kaplan struck out the last two batters he faced.

“You saw his makeup there,” said Madole, who said Kaplan is drawing a lot of attention from college and professional scouts. “He came back the next two innings and put up zeros.”

Orange Coast (13-7, 1-3 in conference), which doesn’t have a set starting rotation yet, started 6-foot-3 freshman Ryan Shopshire on the hill. Shopshire gave up a leadoff home run to Matt Johnson and never made it out of the second inning, when the Lasers scored five runs.

Irvine Valley (11-9, 2-2 in conference), which had 12 hits, has amassed 47 hits in its last three games.

“Our offense has been there lately,” Madole said. “We’re taking a good approach to the plate.”

Orange Coast freshman Ryan Eccles kept the game from getting out of hand by hurling 5 1/3 innings of relief, allowing one run on five hits while striking out five.

“He’s been doing a good job out of the pen for us,” Altobelli said. “He kept them at bay.”

Chris Palmer pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the Pirates, who couldn’t overcome an early 7-0 deficit.

“Kaplan is one of the top pitchers in our conference,” Altobelli said. “When you spot him a touchdown, he can pretty much do what he wants out there.”

Orange Coast will try to get back on the winning track when it plays at Santa Ana on Saturday in a game scheduled for noon.

“Our returning guys have to step it up,” Altobelli said. “We’ve only played four conference games with 20 left. We have the talent here. We’ve just got to get the guys swinging the bat.”