SANTA ANA, Calif. – In the finale of Santa Ana's three game series against the Orange Coast Pirates (11-7, 3-0), the Dons (10-9, 0-3) committed eight errors to put themselves in a hole, leading to a 16-11 loss.
Santa Ana brought the energy and their bats in the first inning, putting five runs on the board to jump out to the early lead. The Dons benefited from a Pirate throwing error that gave them the first two runs and put Juan Gonzalez on third base. Bryan Leef added to the lead by running out an infield RBI single to drive in Gonzalez for the third run. Shortly after, Erick Leef finished the rally with a two run RBI single to make it a 5-0 game.
After conceding the early lead, the Pirates bounced right back with four runs in the next half inning to cut the Don lead to 5-4. Three innings later, they would grab the lead with a six run inning on two hits and two Don errors, making it a 10-5 OCC lead.
The Dons fought right back in the bottom half of the inning, scoring another four runs to stay in the game. With the bases loaded and just one out, Cage Massey walked in a run to start it off. Austin Pritchard continued the push with a sacrifice fly to bring in Gonzalez and then Andrew Martinez came up with a huge RBI single up the middle to bring in two and make it a 10-9 game.
In the sixth, Orange Coast continued the run frenzy with five more runs to extend their lead to 15-9. They would add one more to put the game out of reach, earning the 16-11 win to complete the sweep.
Santa Ana showed a lot of fight but just couldn't overcome the errors and miscues throughout the game.
The Dons will move on and play at Fullerton College on Tuesday, March 13th at 2:00 p.m. in another Orange Empire Conference three game series.