SANTA ANA, Calif. – It was a wild one on Friday afternoon, as the No. 17 ranked Santa Ana Dons hosted No. 7 Cypress in game three of their Orange Empire Conference series.
After the Chargers jumped ahead early with a 2-0 lead in the third inning, the Don answered with a six run fourth inning, capped by a bases clearing double down the right field line from James Williams.
With a 6-2 lead, SAC's starting pitcher Dane Baker held Cypress scoreless in the fifth to seemingly give the Dons control of the game.
But the tide turned again as the Chargers came right back with a six spot in the top of the sixth to take back to the lead, 8-6. They would add another three runs in the eighth, which ended up being critical, to make it an 11-6 game in the ninth.
With just three outs left to play with, the Dons began to make things interesting, drawing walk after walk along with a couple of singles from Drake Wood and Copper Hansen to score four runs and make it a one run game with the bases loaded and no outs in the ninth.
The chaos forced the Cypress coaching staff to go to the bullpen four different times in the inning until reaching Skyler Johnson, who struck out the next three batters to end the Santa Ana rally.
Santa Ana came so close to the upset and a series win but fell 11-10 to drop to a record of 16-8, 6-3 while Cypress escaped, improving to 19-7, 4-5.
UP NEXT
The next OEC series for the Dons will be against the Fullerton Hornets starting Tuesday, March 26th. Santa Ana will host game one at Don Sneddon Field at 2:00 p.m.
