Fullerton Advances after 16 Inning Battle with Cypress
Cypress Calif. - The #5 Chargers baseball team was forced to watch OEC rival #12 Fullerton rush the field in celebration of their game two 6-5 victory and 2-0 sweep of Cypress in the first round of the regional playoffs.
| Final (16) | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cypress
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 1 |
|
Fullerton
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 17 | 2 |
Cypress Calif. - The #5 Chargers baseball team was forced to watch OEC rival #12 Fullerton rush the field in celebration of their game two 6-5 victory and 2-0 sweep of Cypress in the first round of the regional playoffs. Game two of this series lasted a Chargers postseason record 16 innings (four and a half hours) before Fullerton was able to pull off the first round upset and advance to Super Regionals.
The game remained scoreless through three innings, until Chargers 2B Jackson Willeford (3-for-7) hit an RBI double to give Cypress a 1-0 lead. Tyler Gnesda and Brandon Brintz added two more runs for the Chargers after each hitting RBI singles to make it a 3-0 game heading into the fifth. The Hornets responded with three runs of their own in the sixth to tie the game 3-3. Hornets 3B Trent Hammond hit a two RBI double that was followed by a Jeff Murray RBI double to regain momentum. The game remained tied 3-3 until the top of the fourteenth when Chargers C John Santospago hit a two-run double that scored Willeford and Flansburg. It looked like Cypress would go on to force a game three but Fullerton refused to go away. Down 5-3 in the fourteenth, Hornets 1B Oscar Heredia (3-for-7) blasted a two-run shot to extend the game. Fullerton would go on to win the game in the bottom of the sixteenth on a sacrifice fly to center field that allowed Austin Obanion to score.
Cypress pitcher Tyler Ornales (0-2) received the loss for the Chargers and Parker Merritt (1-0) received his first win of the season for Fullerton. Fullerton went 4-1 against Cypress this season but the matchup provided some memorable games that will surely propel this OEC rivalry into next season.
