SANTA ANA – The Dons were unable to hold a 6-0 lead late as they dropped their season finale to Irvine Valley College 7-6. The loss drops the Dons to 14-21-1 overall and 4-17 in the Orange Empire Conference while Irvine Valley improves to 20-16 overall and 10-11 in conference.

The Dons established a 6-0 lead over the first six innings with two runs in the second, two in the third and two in the sixth. Patrick Cromwell doubled in Troy Baird for the first run before Cameron Baranek singled in Cromwell for the second run.

Julio Garcia extended the Dons lead to 4-0 in the third with a two-run home run that also scored Alex Mascarenas before Tanner Negrette tripled in Devan Campos and Cromwell in the sixth inning.

But the Lasers would rally for seven runs in the eighth inning, with four runs coming in unearned following a SAC error that would have ended the inning. Irvine Valley had scored three runs on three hits before Trey Ryan reached on an error, allowing three runs to score. Ryan then scored the go-ahead run on a Brett Hamilton RBI-single.

The Dons managed just one base runner over the final two frames as they were unable to find the equalizing run.

A.J. Franks (3-2) took the loss for the Dons as he allowed the final run on one hits in 1.1 innings of work. Cole Millerd (2-4) got the win for IVC as he held the Dons scoreless over the final 3.2 innings of the game.