Cypress Calif.- The Cypress College baseball team (22-8, 11-4 OEC) took sole possession of the OEC top spot after defeating Orange Coast College (19-11, 10-5 OEC) in a thriller on Thursday afternoon. 

The Pirates jumped out to an early 1-0 lead at the top of the first inning with a sac fly hit by Tommy Bell. The Chargers responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the second inning, highlighted by an RBI double from Joe Vanmarter. Orange Coast scored three more runs of their own in the top of the third to retake the lead, 4-3. Cypress was able to rally and put three more runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-4 lead over the Pirates heading into the fifth. However, the Pirates refused to back down and would regain the lead following one run in the fifth inning and another four runs in the sixth, highlighted by a three RBI triple hit by second baseman Chaneng Varela. The Chargers would add one run to their total in the bottom of the sixth and trail the Pirates 9-7 after six. Each team would trade runs in the eighth to make it a 10-8 game heading into the final inning.

Chargers pitcher Payton Smith (2-0) was able to hold Orange Coast scoreless in the ninth and gave Cypress one last chance to steal a win on their home field. The Chargers were able to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Blake Ronca hit a sacrifice fly to center field allowing Brandon Brintz to score. Trailing 10-9 with two outs, Jack Flansburg stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. Flansburg hit a groundball and reached first on an error by the short stop allowing Justin Donavon and Andrew Ramos to score and win the game 11-10. Flansburg led the Chargers with three hits and an RBI.

Cypress will resume OEC play at home on Saturday, April 11 at 12:00pm against Riverside (18-12, 6-9 OEC).