SANTA ANA, Calif. - No. 18 ranked Santa Ana Baseball opened Orange Empire Conference play by hosting No. 4 Orange Coast (14-4,1-0) on Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, the Dons (10-7, 0-1) dropped game one of the series by a score of 10-4. 

Early on, all signs pointed to a pitchers duel as both starters held offenses scoreless after three innings.

But the feel of the game quickly changed as Santa Ana finally broke through in the fourth with Sebastian McSherry's homer to left field to go up 1-0. In the next inning, the Dons added one more as Mikey Rocha doubled to left center, scoring Thomas Williams to push the lead to 2-0. 

In the sixth inning, Orange Coast used a two out rally to score four runs with Kanan Treece and Ethan Brand both recording two run singles for the Pirates to make it a 4-2 game.

SAC would not go away easily as Troy Kent came up with one on in the bottom half of the inning and launched a nuke over the right centerfield fence to tie the score at 4-4. 

Following a scoreless seventh for both teams, OCC broke the tie with two more runs in the eighth and broke things open with four in the ninth to take the lead for good. 

Brady Ashworth got the start for the Dons and was solid over 5.2 innings. The sophomore righty struckout one and gave up four. CJ Brown took the loss after going 2.2 innings three strikeouts while conceding four runs. 

Thomas Williams and Rocha led Santa Ana offensively with two hits a piece while McSherry and Kent accounted for the two long balls. 

The series will continue on Thursday at Orange Coast at 2:00 p.m.