CYPRESS, CA- Chargers baseball (13-3, 1-0 OEC) defeated Irvine Valley (9-9, 0-1 OEC) on Thursday afternoon, 11-10.
The Lasers visited Cypress for the second game of a three-game conference series. On Tuesday, the Chargers won the first meeting in a high scoring matchup, 10-7. For the second meeting, it was a similar duel with both sides able to score double-digits. Each team's lead-off batter reached from a hit by pitch in the first, but Cypress was the team who managed to score. After a wild pitch allowed Jack Burke to go from first to third, Nick Mascaro grounded out to score the first run of the matchup.
In the bottom of the second, the home team quickly extended their lead. First baseman, Aaron Perez, hit a line drive over the right field fence for a solo-home run. Later in the inning with runners at the corners, Cade Liefer came in to score off of an Isaac Rodriguez ground out. Luke Honikel tallied a base hit and RBI as Edgar Rosales ran from second to touch home. Cypress totaled three runs in the second inning to make the game 4-0.
Though the Lasers got runners on the base paths, the Chargers only allowed one run to cross. The home team responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs of their own. Albert De La Rosa laced a double to the wall to score Perez and Dean Toigo. Irvine Valley played small in the fourth and got their second run on the scoreboard.
The Chargers did not wait long to answer as Honikel homered over the left field wall on the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth. Perez tallied an RBI off of a sacrifice fly, and Liefer sent Toigo home from first on a double to the wall. In the back and forth action, Irvine Valley scored a run in the fifth. Burke made it double-digits on the scoreboard for the Chargers with an RBI sacrifice fly out.
Cypress got themselves in trouble in the seventh frame when the Lasers scored five runs. The Chargers pitchers struggled to find the strike zone as Irvine Valley came within two runs off of three hit batters and a bases loaded walk. The home team again answered with a run off a sacrifice fly from Toigo in the bottom of the seventh. In the final inning, the Lasers hit a two-run home run to be down by only one run. The Chargers were able to seal the victory after a wild ninth frame, 11-10.
In the shootout, lead-off hitter Honikel had an impressive day with his 4-4 game, a home run and two RBIs. Perez also left the yard for a homer as he went 2-4, scored twice and hit in two RBIs. De La Rosa also tallied two RBIs from a double and multi-hit day. The runs for the home team came from up and down the lineup with almost every batter able to contribute to the scoreboard. For the pitching side, Evan Adolphus earned the win from his 6.0 innings, three strikeouts and excellent defense from the mound. Andrew Banda came in and allowed three runs to score and Tucker Fountain gave up two runs. Andrew Dusablon pitched 2.2 innings, struck out two and earned a save. It was a team effort victory against a conference foe that went down to the final batter. Cypress was successful in the end to win the series against Irvine Valley and win their second conference game.
UP NEXT: The Chargers will visit Irvine Valley to conclude the three-game conference series on Saturday, March 11th. First pitch will be at 12pm.
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