Pirates slow down Cougars to take series finale

COSTA MESA -- A frustrating Friday's worth of baseball was softened a bit with a gritty effort by the Orange Coast College Pirates on Saturday as they held on for a 7-5 nonconference win over visiting Cuesta College in the third-and-final game of their series at John Altobelli Park.

The Coast bats found some MUCH-needed two-out magic, while the OCC pitching staff -- led by starter Lyndon Glidewell -- pounded the strike zone all afternoon to the tune of 13 strikeouts against a very solid Cougar lineup.

Glidewell pitched five shutout innings to pick up the win. The sophomore allowed just two hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.

The bats came alive in the second inning when, with two runners on and two outs, Connor Debenon used an infield single to plate Kanan Treece with the first run of the game. Taylor Takata singled to left to load the bases before Owen Wessel ripped a three-run double down the third-base line, putting the Pirates up 4-0.

Another two-out, RBI-hit came courtesy of Tanner Gerosa, who singled to center and scored Koby Williams in the bottom of the third to make it 5-0 and that's where it stayed through the first six innings.

Cuesta (4-2) quickly got back into the game in the top of the seventh when Pranav Sundar ripped a three-run home run to left-center, trimming OCC's advantage to 5-3.

But the Pirates answered back in the bottom of the seventh when Wessel reached on an error, advanced to third on a two-base passed ball and scored on an RBI-single off the bat of J.T. Crabbe. Three batters later, Treece delivered another two-out punch when he singled to center to bring home Ethan Brand to make it 7-3.

The Cougars made things VERY interesting in the top of the eighth with a walk, hit by pitch and single loaded the bases with nobody out and an OCC error plated a run to make it 7-4 with still nobody out.

But reliever Jackson Willes buckled down and traded in a second run for a double play and struck out Sunday with a runner on third to end the threat, keeping Coast up, 7-5. The freshman righty came back out for the ninth and retired the side in order to collect in first save of the season, allowing one earned run on one hit with three strikeouts over the final 2 2/3 innings.

The offensive support came up and down the lineup. Eight different OCC players had hits with Treece going 2-for-3 and seven different Pirates players scored a run.

The Pirates will return to action on Tuesday at John Altobelli Park -- weather permitting -- against L.A. Mission, beginning at 1 p.m.