Pirates rally, hang on for 7-6 win over Rustlers

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College baseball rallied with a five-run eighth inning, then held on for dear life as the Pirates held on for a 7-6 Orange Empire Conference win over rival Golden West on Tuesday at John Altobelli Park.

Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Pirates (16-12 overall, 4-6 in conference), sent 10 men to the plate and scored five times to grab a 7-3 lead. 

Two walks and an infield single put runners on all of the bases for OCC in the eighth. Liam Stuppy stepped up and hit an infield single up the middle that tied the game at 3. 

Andrew Chorbagian put the Pirates in front with a two-run double into the left-field corner, scoring pinch-runners Ryan O'Neill and Arashi Hakamata to give Coast a 5-3 lead.

With the majority of the Rustler defense shading onto the right side of the field, lefty slugger Alan Choo doinked a bloop single into the vacancy in the left field, scoring Stuppy and Chorbagian to put the Pirates up, 7-3. 

The Rustlers (14-15, 1-9) took advantage of some walks in the ninth and scored three runs to pull to within one at 7-6, but reliever Cristian Mares managed to keep the Rustlers a run short of drawing even in the final frame.

The lofty score down the stretch negated some solid pitching for both sides. OCC starter Sullivan Spivey held the Rustlers to just one run on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts. GWC's first two pitchers -- Mercel Mercado and Elias Reyes -- held the OCC bats to just one run on six hits with five strikeouts over the first six innings.

Chorbagian finished the afternoon 3-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI, while Choo added two hits and three RBI. Liam Stuppy anchored the bottom of the Pirates' order by going 3-for-3 with three runs scored and one RBI.

Game 2 of this week's three-game set with the Rustlers takes place on Thursday at GWC, with the finale back at OCC on Friday. Both games are set to begin at 1 p.m.