Pirates clip Eagles for sixth win in a row

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College baseball team is playing winning baseball heading into Orange Empire Conference play as the Pirates edged visiting L.A. Mission College, 5-4, on Thursday at John Altobelli Ballpark.

The win, OCC's sixth in a row and 10th over the past 11 games, improves the Pirates to 10-5 heading into the next phase of the 2025 season ... the OEC phase. Coast will open conference play with a three-game series against Fullerton College, beginning on Tuesday at FC (1 p.m.), with Game 2 of the series set for OCC on Thursday (1 p.m.). The series finale heads back to Fullerton College on Saturday for a 12 p.m. start time.

Nathan Valencia went 2-for-4 with an RBI for OCC's lone multi-hit performer of the game. Andrew Chorbagian slugged a solo home run and scored twice, while Damian Felix and Jake Wood each went 1-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

Jake Martinez improved to 3-0 for the season, holding the Eagles (6-9) to four runs on five hits. Relievers Landon Veirs and Geon Baek threw a combined three scoreless, hitless innings of work before Cristian Mares allowed a hit and a strikeout over a scoreless ninth inning to collect his second save of the season.

After Chorbagian's solo HR put Coast up 1-0 in the second, LAMC tied things up in the top of the fourth, only to see Coast regain the lead in the bottom of the frame, courtesy of a bases-loaded walk from Kael Corridan.

The Eagles again tied things up at 2 in the top of the fifth, but once again, the Pirates had an answer, scoring three runs to grab a 5-2 advantage.

After Chorbagian reached first base to lead off the inning, Felix ripped a double down the left-field line, which scored Chorbagian and put OCC back out in front for good. Wood followed with an RBI-double of his own to score Felix, putting Coast up, 4-2. Two batters later, an RBI-single by Valencia plated Wood to make it 5-2.

A leadoff walk, an RBI-triple and RBI-single started LAMC's top of the sixth and ended the afternoon for Martinez. But Veirs came in and retired the next three batters to end the Eagles' rally with Coast still in front.

The L.A. Mission bullpen did its job, holding the Pirate bats to just one hit over the final four innings, but that was matched effectively by the OCC bullpen, who kept the Eagles off of the scoreboard the rest of the way.