Barcelo gets hits for OCC

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Take one for the team. Halston Barcelo knows the phrase well.

The sophomore took more than one for the Orange Coast College baseball team Thursday.

He took two.

Then three.

The last one, with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, pegged him in the left rib cage, dropping him to the dirt.

Barcelo drove in the run, his fourth that helped the Pirates come back and beat Golden West College, 10-6, in an Orange Empire Conference road game.

But with him lying near the third-base line, the runner walking in had to sidestep Barcelo in order to touch home plate.

It took a couple of minutes for Barcelo to shake off the pain and dust himself off. But out of the three times getting plunked, that wasn’t the worst for the second baseman.

“The last one just knocked the wind out of me,” he said.

The first beaning struck Barcelo in a knee, making him hobble to first base in the second. An inning later, he limped to first as a pitch found one of his feet.

Which one stung more?

“The first one,” said Barcelo, smiling before calling the victory a “key” one for OCC (15-13, 6-6 in conference).

Right now Coach John Altobelli said any win for the Pirates is a good one because they’ve been inconsistent all year. And it came against left-hander Tommy Palica, GWC’s ace, who left after 5 1/3 innings after saying his hip was acting up.

One player Altobelli said has proven his reliability in conference play is Barcelo, who’s been instrumental in OCC taking the first two games against GWC. Barcelo went two for two with two runs and a double Thursday, giving him three doubles to go with eight RBIs, three runs, and he’s reached base safely seven times in two games against the Rustlers.

OCC and GWC (14-14, 4-8), which are in a logjam with a couple of other programs in the conference standings, play again Saturday at OCC at noon.

“I’m sure we’re still in the middle of the pack. Everybody else is,” said Altobelli, adding that Santa Ana, which went into Thursday at 9-1, is running away with the conference title. “We’re all just kind of fighting for second, third, fourth place.”

Much of the Pirates’ inconsistent play can be attributed to competing without their top two starters, Ryan Shopshire and Keith Demorgandie. Altobelli said Shopshire, who last pitched on March 15, is out for three weeks after getting hit in the eye.

Demorgandie returned Thursday and picked up the save after allowing no runs in 2 2/3 innings. It was the right-hander’s first appearance since Feb. 24, when Altobelli said Demorgandie believed he developed tendonitis in his arm.

“Basically it was nothing,” Altobelli said. “Hopefully the rest is going to do him good.”

What did Demorgandie some good is when he entered in the top of the seventh for reliever Daniel Jacobson (1-1) was seeing OCC break open a 5-5 tie by scoring four runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Demorgandie can thank Barcelo for much of that. Instead of getting tagged by a pitch, Barcelo ripped reliever Corey Lenzen’s fastball to left-center field for a two-run double, putting the Pirates up, 8-5.

“We’ve been lacking all year just coming back [from games],” Barcelo said. “We just need to scrap and give it our all on the field.”

Barcelo did. Check his foot, knee and left rib cage. You can see he took one, two and three for the team. He has the bruises to prove it.

Orange Empire Conference

Orange Coast 10,

Golden West 6

Score by Innings

OCC 0 0 0 3 0 2 4 1 0 - 10 12 0

GWC 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 - 6 10 0

DeLoach, Jacobson (3), Demorgandie (7) and Lum; Palica, Fluss (6), Lenzen (7), Bernstein (7), Cruikshank (8) and Nowlin. W -- Jacobson, 1-1. L -- Fluss, 2-1. 2B -- Barcelo (OCC), Wheeler (GWC), McMullen (GWC), Roth (GWC). 3B -- Roth (GWC).