OCC bounces Dons, advances in regional playoffs

With 13 players who began their collegiate careers at four-year schools, the Orange Coast College baseball team is no stranger to bouncing back.

The Pirates are also thoroughly familiar with landing on their feet, particularly sophomore third baseman Nolan Powers, who has perpetuated the tradition of performing a backflip in a circle of teammates before every game.

Powers and the Pirates made sure the season would continue to revolve on Sunday, thumping Santa Ana, 9-4, in the rubber game of the best-of-three Southern California Super Regional playoff series at OCC.

Powers was four for four with a walk, one RBI and one run to help OCC (35-10), the No. 1 SoCal seed, bounce back after dropping the series opener to the No. 14-seeded Dons 3-1 on Friday.

The Pirates will meet No. 5-seeded El Camino (37-8) in a best-of-three sectional series at OCC beginning Friday at 2 p.m.

OCC sophomore first baseman Eric Wagaman was two for four with two RBIs and two runs and freshman designated hitter Ramiro Velasco was two for five with two RBIs and one run.

Sophomore shortstop Travis Moniot, the Orange Empire Conference Co-MVP and a bounce-back from Oregon, was two for two with three walks, one RBI, one run and a stolen base for OCC. Moniot’s 47 walks are a school single-season record and his on-base percentage is now .528 to rank No. 4 in the state.

Four other Pirates had hits on Sunday, including sophomore right-fielder John Balliet, a bounce-back from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo who belted his first home run of the season to center field in the eighth inning.

It was the 42^nd dinger of the season for OCC (No. 3 in the state), for which 12 players have homered.

Sophomore pitcher Blair Lewis, a bounce-back from Pitt, allowed one hit in five shutout relief innings to earn the win and improve to 4-1. It was the fifth time this season that Lewis has pitched at least five innings in relief. He has won three of those outings.

Lewis came in for sophomore McKinley LeFore, a bounce-back from Oregon, who allowed four runs on seven hits in four-plus innings.

OCC opened the scoring with a four-run third, keyed by a two-run double by Velasco that followed three straight walks to open the inning.

OCC added one run in the fourth, before the Dons (29-17), who lost five of six games to OCC this season, rallied for four in the fifth.

A Moniot RBI single helped OCC pad its lead in the fifth inning and Wagaman singled in two more in the seventh to make it 8-4.

Lewis, who has allowed no runs and three hits in his last 8 2/3 innings, lowered his ERA to 1.70. Lewis, who shares the team lead with four saves, has held opponents to a .194 batting average.

OCC’s team ERA is now 2.90, tops in SoCal and No. 4 in the state.

El Camino, which outscored Pasadena 17-3 to sweep its Super Regional series, boasts a 3.02 ERA. Sophomore pitchers Taylor Rashi and Cassius Hamm are both 11-3 and have combined for 248 strikeouts in 197 1/3 innings for the Warriors, who opened the season 33-2 and were ranked No. 1 in the state.

“[The Warriors] have really good arms,” OCC coach John Altobelli said. “They were on fire early, stumbled a little bit during conference play [losing six of seven in one stretch], but now have it going again. It’s really going to be a tremendous challenge for us.”

Should OCC top El Camino, it would advance to the four-team state tournament for the third time in four seasons. It won state titles in 2014 and 2015.

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Southern California Super Regional

Game 3

Orange Coast 9, Santa Ana 4

SCORE BY INNINGS

SAC 000 040 000 – 4 8 2

OCC 004 110 21x – 9 14 2

Armstrong, Hoskins (3), Weddle (6), Sanchez (7), Lundeman (7) and Vasquez; LeFore, Lewis (5) and Teel. W – Lewis, 4-1. L – Armstrong, 5-3. 2B – E. Leef (SAC) 2, Velasco (OCC), Teel (OCC). HR – Balliet (OCC).

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Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5