CYPRESS, CA – The Cypress College baseball team (22-8, 7-6 OEC) entered the series opener against Fullerton College at home on Tuesday as winners of three consecutive Orange Empire Conference series, following a slow start. Cypress took game one of the best-of-three series over the district rival Fullerton Hornets, 8-3.

The Chargers currently rank No. 9 in the state, according to the most recent CCCSIA Poll, and No. 4 in the south, according to the CCCBCA Coaches Poll.

Sophomore pitcher Eric Chavarria (W, 6-2) earned the victory for Cypress on the mound, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits with 5 strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work. Fullerton's Alfredo Castaneda received the loss.

Cypress got things going with an Eric Bigani (1-for-3, 2RBI) RBI single to left field in the bottom of the first. However, the Hornets answered with two runs to take the lead in the top of the second.

Trying to earn their first series opening victory of the season, Cypress got things going on offense in the bottom of the fourth, taking advantage of three Fullerton errors to load the bases with no outs. Carson Letterman (0-for-1, RBI) was walked to bring in the first run, before Jack Gardner (2-for-3, HR, 2RBI) would score from third on a wild pitch from Castaneda. A Trevor Windisch (1-for-3, RBI) sacrifice fly gave the Chargers a 4-2 lead heading into the top of the fifth.

The Chargers padded their lead with two solo home runs in the bottom of the sixth from Gardner and Hayden Winters (1-for-1, HR, RBI), giving them a 6-2 lead, before adding two insurance runs in the seventh.

Fullerton managed to load the bases with no outs in the ninth inning, but only came away with one run, as the Chargers went on to win, 8-3.

Cypress baseball will look to finish off the Hornets and capture their fourth consecutive OEC series victory. Schedule is as follows:

Game 2 – Thursday 4/4 @ Fullerton | 2:00pm

Game 3 – Saturday 4/6 vs. Fullerton | 12:00pm

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