Huntington Beach, Calif. - The Golden West offense pounds 12 hits and scores eight times to cruise past the Pirates 8-4 Tuesday afternoon.
Five Rustler's tally two hits apiece as Luke Chung and Ely Stuart lead the way with two RBI's each to open Orange Empire Conference play against rival Orange Coast College. Stuart got Golden West on the scoreboard first with an RBI single in the bottom of the second inning when he smacked the ball to right center field, scoring Vinny Tosti from third base. The Pirates would respond in the top half of the third inning to tie the game 1-1 using a pair of hits and a hit by pitch in the frame.
The game wouldn't stay tied for long as the Rustler's took advantage of a couple fielding errors in the bottom of the third inning to plate three more runs to take the lead 4-1. Seth Nelson got the inning started with single, followed by an Enrique Bennett double to set up Chung with runners on second and third. Chung would then hit an RBI single scoring Nelson and moving Bennett to third for a 2-1 lead. Chung would score later on an error by the third basemen to make it 3-1, then Anthony Marquez would hit a deep sacrifice fly to left field to make it 4-1.
Both teams would tack on another run each in the fourth inning to make it a 5-2 ball game. Then the Rustler's would plate one run in the next three innings to go on to win 8-4.
Starting pitcher Bryce Ruggeroli (2-1) had another quality start to earn the win as he went six innings giving up two runs on five hits while striking out seven.
NEXT - Golden West will travel to Orange Coast on Thursday, March 6 for a 2pm start.
