SANTA ANA, Calif. - On Saturday afternoon, the Santa Ana College baseball team put its two game winning streak on the line when it hosted the College of the Canyon Cougars in a rematch. The Dons (6-3) defeated the Cougars (4-5) 8-2 on the road in their first matchup, but the Cougars got even in game two with a 9-7 victory to split the series.
Santa Ana came back from an early 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning behind an RBI double from Andrew Zatarain and a two run homer by James Williams. They would keep that lead until the Cougars rallied to bring in four runs on two errors in the seventh inning.
The Dons responded in the bottom half of the inning with two runs on Cage Massey's RBI single to cut the lead to 7-6.
College of the Canyons followed that with another two runs in the eighth to give themselves some breathing room.
Drake Wood roped a double down the left field line to add one more run in the eighth, but the Dons couldn't muster up anything more, falling to the Cougars by a score of 9-7.
On the mound, Santa Ana had a committee of seven pitchers that saw action, but freshman reliever Joel Casillas took the loss after giving up three runs in three innings with four strikeouts.
HEATING UP
James Williams, a freshman from Ocean View High, went 4-4 with a homerun and a walk while sophomore shortstop Raymond Villanueva posted a 4-5, two run day.
Williams has proven to be one of the best hitters on the team, and maybe even the state thus far. The switch hitting infielder is now hitting a staggering .571 with nine RBI's.
And after a slow start, Villanueva is up to a .250 average with four RBI's and a stolen base. Last year he posted the second highest average (.327) as a freshman.
UP NEXT
The Dons are scheduled for home and away series with College of the Desert and East LA next week. They'll start on the road against COD on Tuesday, Feb. 19th at 2:00 p.m.
