Posted: Mar 21, 2013
Hornets Maintain First Place with 5-1 Win at Riverside
RIVERSIDE – In a battle for first place in the Orange Empire Conference (OEC), the visiting Fullerton College Hornets broke a scoreless tie with a three-run fifth inning en route to a 5-1 OEC win over the host Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers men's baseball team Thursday evening at the Evans Sports Complex.
Fullerton (16-6, 8-2 OEC) parlayed a double, a walk, and a hit batsman into three runs in the fifth. Sophomore 3B Erik Lewis laid down a sacrifice bunt to drive in sophomore CF Ryan Joyce with the game's first run. Starting (and winning) freshman RHP Troy Mulcahey then drilled a two-run single to help his own cause, driving in freshman LF Nick Gotta and sophomore 2B Derreck Garcia for a 3-0 Hornet lead. Joyce led Fullerton with two hits, including the double in the fifth.
In the eighth, freshman C Oliver Jackson doubled and scored on a run-producing ground out, and sophomore 1B Garrett Donohoe (who drew a walk), scored on an infield error.
In the bottom of the eighth, Riverside (16-8, 6-4 OEC), freshman SS Nick King (Palm Springs / Palm Springs HS) singled to second base, stole second base, advanced to third on a groundout to first base, and scored on an infield hit by sophomore 3B Ricardo Rodriguez (Moreno Valley / Canyon Springs HS). Freshman DH Chaneng Varela (Chino / Chino HS) and freshman C Michael Deceglie (Rancho Cucamonga / Los Osos HS) each had two hits to pace the Tigers.
With the win, Mulcahey improved to 2-2, while RCC sophomore LHP reliever Chad Diffine (Chino / Chino Hills HS) yielded the three runs in the fifth to draw the loss. He is now 0-2.
Both teams continue OEC play tomorrow, Friday, March 22, at 2 p.m. when RCC visits these same Hornets in the "rubber game" of the series.