SANTA ANA, Calif. – With just nine games left in the regular season, the Santa Ana Baseball team has climbed back into playoff contention after sweeping No. 8 Riverside in this week's pivotal series.
After handing the Tigers two straight losses earlier in the week, the Dons finished the job with a 5-3 win on Saturday afternoon.
Santa Ana struck early once again, scoring all five of their runs in the first inning. Bryan Leef started things off with an RBI single to bring in Erick Leef. Right behind him came Nathan Flores and Cage Massey, who also singled to drive in two more runs for the Dons. Next, Adam Cendejas did his job by hitting a grounder to second for the fourth run of the inning and then Andrew Martinez finished the rally with another RBI single to score Massey.
Five runs were more than enough for the Dons right hander Gabe Armstrong, as he went seven quality innings with two unearned runs, three hits and four strikeouts to earn the win. He was relieved by Jay Edwards, who finished the last two innings to pick up his first save of the season.
The Dons have now won five straight and are tied for fifth place in the Orange Empire Conference standings. Next week, Santa Ana will face off with No. 2 Saddleback in another OEC three game series. The first game of the series will start Tuesday, April 10th at Santa Ana at 2:00 p.m.