Subscribe Subscribe
 McConnon drove in three runs against the Dons. |
Wade McConnon delivered two big singles that kept Cypress in the ballgame until the end.
April 15, 2011
Santa Ana, Calif. - Cypress College rallied from an early five-run deficit to take a 7-5 lead over Santa Ana College in the top of the seventh inning on Friday.
The Chargers claimed their first lead of the game after putting five runs up on the board, but the Dons answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to regain the lead, and eventually hold on for a hard-fought 9-7 Orange Empire Conference win at home.
Wade McConnon came up big for the Chargers with a 3 for 5 day at the plate, which included a run scored and three RBI. Anthony Razo drove in a pair of runs on double to left, while Brad Hartong and Bryan Aanderud picked up the other two RBI for Cypress.
Arby Fields and Manny Alonso each had a two hits on the day. Alonso ended up scoring twice for the Chargers, while Fields, Aanderud, Jake Clark, McConnon and Razo accounted for all of Cypress’ runs in the ballgame.
Jared Wilson had another solid appearance out of the Charger pen when he came in to relieve Cypress starting pitcher Tommy Nance in the third inning. Wilson continued to shave runs off his ERA by allowing just one man to score in 3 1-3 innings of work.
Travis Pitcher (1-3) picked up the loss for the Chargers, while Santa Ana College’s fourth pitcher of the game, reliever Marcus Garrett (5-1), was in the right place at the right time to vulture a win.
After a scoreless first inning by both squads, the Dons busted out with a four-run second on a pair of two-run doubles by Trevor Magno and Andy Peterson. Santa Ana tacked on one more run in the fourth to open up a five-run lead.
The Chargers cut into Santa Ana’s lead in the top-half of the fourth inning when Clark drew a leadoff walk, then moved into scoring position on a single up the middle by Alonso. A sac-bunt by Chase Harrison set McConnon up with runners on second and third. McConnon delivered with a two-RBI single to right center that brought both runners into score, and bring Cypress back to within three at 5-2.
Wilson settled down after allowing the first batter he faced to score, and silenced the Santa Ana bats in the fourth and fifth innings, before Pitcher came in to relieve him.
Still only trailing by three runs, the Chargers went to work in the seventh. Fields got Cypress’ rally started with a leadoff single up the middle, before advancing to second on a passed ball. Aanderud picked Fields up with a single to left, then Alonso drew a one-out walk after Clark went down on strikes. Harrison’s pop-up to second put two outs on the board for the Chargers, but McConnon came through in-the-clutch again with another single to right that sent Aanderud in from second, and get the Chargers back to within a run at 5-4.
With two down, and runners on first and second, Razo came through with one of his biggest hits as a Charger when he drove in McConnon and Alonso with a double to left that put Cypress on top for the first time all day.
The Dons tried to stop the bleeding when they called Garrett out of the pen to try and keep it a one-run game, but Hartong was still hungry-for-more. He greeted Garrett with a single up the middle that brought in Razo from second to give the Chargers 7-5 lead.
The momentum seemed to be shifting the Chargers way, but the Santa Ana winds must have blown it back in the Dons direction in the bottom half of the inning.
After fanning the first man up in the inning, Pitcher ran into some trouble when he gave up three runs, and allowed Santa Ana to retake the lead.
SAC added one more insurance run in the eighth on a homerun by Garret Apelian. That finished off the scoring for both sides, and secured a 9-7 conference win for the Dons.
Despite today’s loss, the Chargers continue to hold on to fourth place in the OEC thanks to an extra-inning win by Orange Coast over Irvine Valley in 12 innings. Cypress currently holds a one-game lead over the Lasers (18-14, 8-11) in the conference standings.
With Spring Break coming up next week, Cypress will take a break from conference play, and gear up for the playoffs with three non-conference matchups.
First up for the Chargers is a game that was just added to the schedule. On Tuesday, Cypress will host Harbor Community College at 1 p.m., then the team will hit-the-road play two road games against College of the Canyons on Wednesday, and Cuesta on Thursday afternoon.
The Chargers close out their 2011 regular season schedule with a 2 p.m. game at Fullerton College on Tuesday April 26, and one final home contest against the Hornets at 2 p.m. on Thursday April 28.
