SANTA ANA, Calif. – A five run eighth inning lifted the Santa Ana baseball team to its fourth consecutive win as the Dons defeated College of the Desert 9-5 in non-conference play.
Micah Pietila-Wiggs gave the Dons a 1-0 advantage with a lead-off homerun in the bottom of the first. But the lead was short lived, as COD rallied for four runs over the next few innings.
Santa Ana began to chip away in the sixth, scoring two behind a Roadrunner wild pitch and an RBI double from Pietila-Wiggs. The Dons added another run in the bottom of the seventh as Kyle Morrell singled in Frank Garcia to tie the game at 4-4.
Although College of the Desert responded right away, grabbing the lead back with another run in the top of the eighth, the Dons maintained the momentum and rattled off five runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Garcia started things off with a two out RBI single to tie the game. Cedrick Perez followed that up with a double to right center field to score two more and Zack Doak capped it off with a towering home run to left field.
Kyle Hoskins shutdown the Roadrunners in the ninth to earn his first win of the year. The sophomore struck out four in two innings of work and has yet to give up a run.
Starting pitcher Josh Haley went six innings with four strikeouts and three runs for a no-decision. Cesar Aguilar came out of the bullpen for an inning while conceding one run.
Santa Ana is now 6-1 overall after defeating College of the Desert for the second time this week.
UP NEXT: The Dons return to Don Sneddon Field on Saturday to host Oxnard at 1:00 p.m. Santa Ana took the win in their first matchup with the Condors by a score of 7-3.