Riverside Grabs First OEC Series Sweep
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Fullerton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
|
#11 Riverside | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | X | 7 | 11 | 3 |
Written by Ayden Mason
No. 11-ranked Riverside City College defeated Fullerton College 7-2, grabbing its first Orange Empire Conference series sweep.
The Tigers improve to 21-10 overall and 8-4 in the OEC, while the Hornets drop to 15-16 on the year, 5-7 in conference.
In the fourth inning, RCC scored the first run of the game off an RBI double from Marc DiCarlo Jr (1-for-4) to give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead.
Riverside added two more runs in the fifth inning as Parker Sobiesiak (1-for-4) and Ian Nguyen (2-for-4) both hit RBI groundouts, 3-0.
Fullerton scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to pull within one run, 3-2, but Alex Gamez helped the Tigers get a two-run lead with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh, 4-2.
The Tigers put the game to bed as they scored three more runs in the bottom of the eighth to jump out to a 7-2 lead. Bubba Heidler (2-for-4) and Sobiesiak had back-to-back RBI singles before Nguyen capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly.
Jake Valenzuela dominated on the mound for RCC, throwing seven strikeouts through seven innings to up the win. Jake Khasaempanth came in for the final two innings and picked up the save with two strikeouts and no hits.
The Tigers face Orange Coast College back at home on Tuesday at 2 p.m. as they look to build on the three-game winning streak.