CYPRESS, CA- The Cypress Chargers (14-8, 10-4 OEC) faced off against the Orange Coast Pirates (17-4-14, 12-2 OEC) on Thursday afternoon. The Chargers won in walk-off fashion after a single by Ryan Maciel.
Julian Aguiar (8.0 IP) was the star on the mound for the Chargers striking out 10 batters while giving up three earned runs. Ricky Lane (2-for-4) homered for the Chargers and stole one base. Ryan Maciel (3-for-4) notched two RBI's on the day. Andrew Sojka (1-for-4) homered for the Chargers. Chazz Martinez (8.0 IP) started on the mound and batted fourth for the Pirates. He struck out 11 batters and went 1-for-3 with a homerun on the day.
The Chargers found themselves in a pitching duel on Thursday afternoon. Freshman, Julian Aguiar, was on the mound for the Chargers making his fifth start of the season. Aguiar was in cruise control from the start retiring the first six batters, striking out three. Right fielder, Ricky Lane, got the scoring started for Cypress launching a solo shot over the left field fence in the bottom of the first. The Pirates answered in the top of the third with a double off of the bat of center fielder, Jared Schatz, scoring Emilio Morales. In the fourth inning, Ryan Maciel beat out a throw at first base allowing Dalton Sloniger to come around and score to reclaim the Chargers lead, 2-1. Julian Aguiar ran into some trouble early in the seventh inning where he gave up two solo home runs to Chazz Martinez and Garret Barto. Aguiar was able to fight through the seventh and limit the damage to three runs. The Chargers headed to the eighth down one when California State Northridge commit, Andrew Sojka, homered to center field to knot the game up at 3. Pitcher, Troy Taylor, entered the game in the top of the ninth to hold the tie for the Chargers. After struggling with the first two hitters, Taylor was faced with runners on second and third and no outs. Taylor was able to get Nolan Funke to ground out and hold the runners. Taylor struck out the next two batters and swung the momentum in the Chargers favor. In the bottom of the ninth Pu'ukani De Sa got it started with a double down the left field line. Dalton Sloniger followed with a bunt down the third base line and reached base safely. Ryan Maciel came to the plate with runners at the corners and the infield in. Maciel delivered with a single up the middle to push the Chargers to victory, 4-3.
UP NEXT: The Chargers will be back on the diamond Friday for a double-header versus the Pirates at Orange Coast College. First pitch will be at 12pm.
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