Tigers Put Exclamation Point on Second OEC Series Sweep
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#10 Riverside | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 22 | 24 | 2 |
|
#22 Irvine Valley | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
No. 10-ranked Riverside City College put an exclamation point on its second Orange Empire Conference series sweep, downing No. 22-ranked Irvine Valley College 22-3 Friday afternoon.
The Tigers improve to 19-5 overall and 6-0 in the OEC, while the Lasers drop to 13-10 on the year and 0-6 in conference.
RCC finished with 24 hits in the game, led by multiple Tigers with three hits each: Josh Chairez (3-for-5), Bubba Heidler (3-for-7) and Grant Gray (3-for-6).
On the mound, Jorge Rodriguez picked up his fourth win and finished with six strikeouts. Jack Wheaton helped seal the win for RCC and had three strikeouts in the final inning of action.
IVC actually took the first lead of the game with a run in the bottom of the third, but RCC responded in its next chance at the plate. With one out and runners at the corners, Darin Osterloh (1-for-2) laid down a perfect bunt to score one runner.
Riki Kubota (1-for-2) followed with an RBI double before Luis Sosa (2-for-3) sacrificed a fly ball to tack on another run, 3-1.
The Tigers kept pushing and scored five runs in the fifth, one in the sixth, and two in the seventh to hold a solid 11-3 lead heading into an explosive eighth inning. Riverside scored 11 runs in the frame on 10 hits to seal the 22-3 lopsided victory.
Riverside takes a brief break from conference action next week, hosting Santa Barbara City College on Thursday at 3 p.m.