Dons get edge on Pirates

COSTA MESA — Even falling for one of the oldest tricks in the book wasn’t going to stop the Santa Ana College baseball team Thursday.

Orange Coast freshman shortstop Ryan Dunn took the throw back into the infield after an eighth-inning Dons double. The umpire turned around to dust off home plate, but Dunn kept the ball, went over and tagged an unsuspecting Kyle Hardman and the hidden-ball trick was successful.

“When the home-plate umpire cleans off the plate, it’s usually timeout,” Santa Ana Coach Don Sneddon said. “It was still a bad play on our part. You never get off the base unless you know where the ball is.”

But the Pirates had a considerably harder time knowing where the ball was against Santa Ana starter Kyle Mertins, who pitched a complete game in helping Santa Ana to the 5-3 Orange Empire Conference win at OCC.

The defending conference champion Dons (26-8, 11-1 in conference) are now alone in first place, a game ahead of the Pirates (26-8-1, 10-2). The teams will play the rubber match of their three-game conference series Saturday at noon at Santa Ana.

Orange Coast, which had a 10-game conference winning streak snapped, had come back to win each of its previous two conference games against Riverside. The Pirates tried to do it again after Santa Ana scored three times in the third inning off OCC starter Brandon Dixon.

Ryan Sheeks led off the bottom of the inning with a single to left, and Chris Fung walked. After Wes Kartch sacrificed the runners over, Mertins intentionally walked Cory Olson to load the bases.

Drew Hillman hit a sacrifice fly to score Sheeks, then Jourdan Watanabe followed with a two-RBI single to center to tie it at 3-3.

Watanabe was three for four with a double and the two RBIs. But after the third, the Pirates could manage just three hits off Mertins, who improved to 6-1.

“He’s one of the best pitchers in the conference, and I think he got stronger as the game went along,” OCC Coach John Altobelli said. “Good pitching beats good hitting, and that’s what happened right there. We had some chances and didn’t get the big hit.”

Dixon, who allowed four earned runs in seven innings and struck out four, fell to 8-2. The lefty retired the side in order in four of the first five innings, but gave up the go-ahead run in the seventh when Santa Ana’s Nate Bridges singled home Crispin Tarango with one out.

“[Dixon] did a good job,” Altobelli said. “He was struggling a little bit with his command, but did a good job. He threw a lot of pitches so we had to get him out of there. Most of the time, we get more than three runs to give him some support, but it just didn’t happen today.”

Dixon, who came in with an earned-run average of 1.78, saw it increase to 2.07.

Santa Ana threatened in the eighth before Pirates freshman Beau Graham came in to get out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam. The Dons added an unearned run in the ninth on a pair of OCC throwing errors.

Orange Coast had one last shot in the ninth, when freshman first baseman Brett Wallach led off with a single to left. But Mertins retired the next three batters to cap his second complete game of the season.

“He got a lot of ground balls with his sinker,” Sneddon said. “That’s what he does well, and he threw strikes. The ability to keep them off the bases was huge. He’s a competitor. When I take him out, I have to drag him off the mound most of the time.”

The Pirates now need to win Saturday to earn the tiebreaker if the teams tie for the conference title. There are eight conference games remaining after Saturday’s contest.

Orange Empire Conference

Santa Ana 5, Orange Coast 3

SCORE BY INNINGS

Mertins and Davis; Dixon, Hauser (8), Graham (8), Jarvi (9) and Watanabe. W – Mertins, 6-1. L – Dixon, 8-2. 2B – Leverson (SA), Hardman (SA), Watanabe (OCC). 3B – Tarango (SA).

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at [email protected].