SANTA ANA, Calif. - Josh Haley struck out 10 batters and threw a complete game to lead the Santa Ana Baseball team to a 8-3 win over Orange Coast (19-5-1, 13-3) in the series opener on Tuesday afternoon.
The left-hander out of Gahr High made the most out of what could have been his last appearance in a Don uniform. He gave up just one earned run on six hits while eating up innings to give the SAC bullpen a much needed rest.
On the offensive side, Santa Ana supplied plenty of help for Haley as they jumped on the Pirates with four runs in the first inning and two in the second.
Sophomore outfielder Griffin Selby got the Dons started with an RBI double down the left field line to bring in Micah Pietila-Wiggs. Cedrick Perez followed with an RBI single to set the table for James Williams, who added one more single to make it a 3-0 lead. The Dons scored one more in the first on a Pirate error to earn a four run cushion.
After another clean inning in the top of the second, Santa Ana went back to work two more runs as Luke Davis crushed a ball that cleared the center field fence and Williams took advantage of another opportunity with runners in scoring position with an RBI single to right center.
Over the next two innings, the Pirates started to chip away as they scored three runs to make it a 6-3 game. But in the seventh, Nick Lopez went deep for the seventh time this season to give SAC back the momentum that ultimately led to their 8-3 victory.
Selby put up three hits with three runs and an RBI to push his batting average to a team high .375.
Lopez, Davis and Williams checked in with two hits a piece and combined for four runs batted in and three runs.
The Dons will host Orange Coast once again in game two on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. Fans can watch live on Youtube or follow live stats at sacdons.com.