SANTA ANA - The Dons suffered their first Orange Empire Conference loss, and first home loss, of the season after surrendering a 7-5 lead to visiting Irvine Valley College. The Lasers (8-7, 1-1) scored twice in the ninth inning before scoring the go-ahead run in the 10th inning to hand the Dons (13-2, 1-1) the loss.
Irvine Valley opened the scoring with a solo home run by Dillon Millar in the first inning before Tommy Anderson tied the game in the bottom of the first when he scored on Chris Major's sacrifice fly. The Lasers would go up 4-1 with one unearned run in each of the second, fourth and fifth innings.
The Dons answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to make the game 4-3 on a RBI-single by Anderson before Nathan Cervantes scored on a Colin Winn sacrifice fly. The Dons would take their first lead of the game at 5-4 with two runs in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Justin Mellano and a RBI-single by Anderson.
But the Lasers would come back with a run in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 5-5 with two doubles. Millar hit the first double down the left field line before scoring on a RBI-double by Clint Jack.
The Dons had another answer as they quickly reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning with three-straight doubles by Major, Jeff Murray and Austin Pritchard. Murray doubled in Major before scoring on Pritchard's double.
The Lasers ninth-inning rally started when Millar reached on an error before Jack was hit by a pitch. After a sacrifice bunt moved both runners over, Jordan Gillerman hit a RBI-groundout to score Millar and make the game 7-6. Austin Reynolds then tied the game with a RBI-double to left-centerfield.
The eventual game-winning run came across in the top of the 10th inning with Tyler Wagner scoring on a RBI-single by Jack. The Dons came back in the bottom of the 10th and got a one-out single by Winn, however he was caught stealing in the next at bat. After Patrick Cromwell drew a walk, the game came to an end with a called strikeout.
Andrew Hodges (4-1) lost for the first time this season as he allowed three runs, one earned, on five hits in 3.2 innings of work, his longest outing of the season. Jason McClellan (1-0) got the win for the Lasers as he held the Dons scoreless over the final 2.2 innings while allowing just one hit.
Guillermo Sanchez started the game for the Dons and threw 6.1 innings while allowing five runs, two earned, on six hits with five strikeouts. Both he and Hodges combined for just three earned runs as the Dons defense committed five errors.
