Huntington Beach, CA - Golden West baseball (25-11, 12-5 OEC) won their third consecutive series against the Irvine Valley (13-23, 4-13 OEC), 11-3.
The Rustlers sit atop of the Orange Empire Conference by two games after their successful series wins against Cypress and Saddleback College. In April, the team turned it on to win eight of their nine games and be the first team in the conference to win ten games. The Rustlers met the Lasers at Irvine Valley for the first game in the series in which Golden West put up nine runs in later innings for the huge comeback victory, 13-12. At Fred Hoover Field, the first place team in the OEC went for their third consecutive series win.
Irvine Valley scored first in the second frame as the Lasers pieced together three hits for two runs, 0-2. Golden West immediately responded in the bottom of the second with a five spot to take the lead. Dylan Lina and Jack Salmon both singled to begin the inning as Robert Castillo smacked in the first run for the Rustlers offense, 1-2. On a wild pitch, Salmon would easily cross home to tie the contest, 2-2. Kaleb Duncan had two runners in scoring position and came up clutch with a single up the middle for two RBIs, 4-2. Ayden Garcia put an exclamation on the scoreboard with a frozen rope home run to put his team up by three, 5-2.
An inning later, Salmon stepped up to the plate and demolished the ball over the right field ivy wall for a solo blast, 6-2. In the fourth, Davis Hildenbrandt reached from a dropped third strike and later scored from a wild pitch, 7-2. After the seventh inning stretch, Salmon stepped into the box and crushed his second solo home run on the day, 8-2. Golden West tallied three runs in the eight from an RBI single from Zech Samayoa, 9-2. Lina stroked in two from a two-RBI swing to the left side, 11-2. Rustlers finished off the victory and took the first two games of the series from the Lasers, 11-3.
Salmon exploded for two home runs as he went 4-5, collected two RBIs and scored three times. Garcia also went yard with his 2-5, earned an RBI and a run scored. Samayoa also knocked two hits with an RBI in his four plate appearances. Pitching was a key component to the victory as Jack Smith started and delivered 5.0 frames, only allowed two runs and struck out three. JJ Robles came in for 3.0 scoreless relief innings as he struck out two. Jake Rice closed out the game in the ninth/ Golden West sits atop the OEC with a 12-5 conference record.
UP NEXT: Golden West will conclude the series against Irvine Valley on the road on Saturday, April 20th. First pitch will be at 12pm.
