SANTA ANA, Calif. - The No. 6 ranked Santa Ana Baseball team took two out of three games in its Orange Empire Conference (OEC) series against No. 5 Cypress (24-12, 10-8) to grab sole possession of third place in the OEC standings.
In game one, the Dons (24-13, 11-7) went on the road and scored nine in the final four innings to rally past the Chargers to start the series on the right foot.
Santa Ana found themselves down 4-3 after Cypress erased a 3-0 deficit and took the lead on a Tanner Gerosa single.
Matthew Dobson came up big in the sixth with a game-tying home run, which gave the Dons the momentum they needed. Later in the inning, Mario Tostado doubled against his former team to drive home the go-ahead run before Austin Haller added on with an RBI single to make it 6-4.
The Dons scored four more in the seventh on a string of singles from Christian Thompson, Troy Kent and Mikey Rocha to increase the lead to 10-4. Tostado and Haller produced a couple more runs in the eighth to cap the scoring for the day.
Game 1️⃣ goes to the Dons! #DonsRoll pic.twitter.com/Dl6eConsd2
— SAC Dons (@SACDons) April 19, 2023
Santa Ana returned home for what would turn out to be a wild game two win. The Dons got off to another good start, scoring the first five runs of the game before the Chargers came roaring back.
Cypress chipped away with two runs in the sixth before posting a four spot in the seventh to take the lead.
Despite conceding their lead, SAC refocused and got back to doing what they do best; hitting.
In the eighth inning, the Dons quickly loaded the bases with a walk followed by two hit by pitches before Dobson earned an RBI with a walk of his own.
With the infield in, Thompson was able to muscle a single through the middle to score two and push the Santa Ana lead to 8-6. Tostado picked up another RBI with a sacrifice fly to center field, making it a 9-6 game.
James Showalter shut down the Charger offense in the ninth to earn his fourth win of the year. The freshman struck out three in the final two innings of one of the biggest games yet.
Another W for SAC Baseball! The Dons came back with 4 runs in the 8th inning to take game 2️⃣ over Cypress.#DonsRoll pic.twitter.com/YYQQNBalHB
— SAC Dons (@SACDons) April 21, 2023
On Saturday, the Dons went for the sweep and nearly came up with it as they held a two run lead heading into the eighth inning.
Cypress managed to take advantage of an error and scored two on a single and a ground out to tie the game at 7-7.
The score would remain the same until the 11th inning when Cypress got a single from Albert De La Rosa to win in walk-off fashion.
Santa Ana now enters the final week of the regular season and will match up with No. 15 Fullerton (20-17, 8-10). Game one is set for 2:00 p.m. at Fullerton College on Tuesday, April 25th.
