JC Baseball: Pirates thump Vikings
LONG BEACH — Orange Coast College sophomore starting pitcher Kyle Robeniol walked four, threw five wild pitches, and needed 100 pitches to labor through five innings on Thursday.
But, backed by one of the most potent offenses in the state, the University of Oregon bounce-back did more than enough to earn his third victory in as many decisions as the Pirates earned a 12-5 nonconference baseball triumph at Long Beach City College.
OCC amassed 16 hits, seven of which were for extra-bases, including a pair of second-inning home runs that staked the visitors to a 3-0 lead that continued to expand.
Sophomore third baseman Nolan Powers was three for four with a double, one run batted in and two runs, and four more Pirates had two hits apiece as every starter and 10 players produced hits for the winners (11-2).
Sophomore designated hitter Daniel Hawkins (two for three with one RBI and three runs) opened the scoring with a booming home run to left field.
One out later, Powers singled and freshman catcher Chris Ceballos, a Cal State Fullerton bounce-back, launched his first homer of the season.
Ceballos’ blast gave OCC 14 dingers in 13 games. The Pirates had 12 homers in 36 games last season.
The double-digit scoring output was the fifth of the season for OCC, which leads the state in extra-base hits (49), doubles (33), and ranks second among 88 California programs in homers and runs (121).
The bottom third of the batting order, including Powers and Ceballos, went eight for 14 Thursday (.571) to help OCC lift its batting average 17 points to .278.
Ceballos, sophomore second baseman J.T. Navarro and sophomore shortstop Travis Moniot, another Oregon bounce-back, all had two hits. Moniot belted a three-run triple in the fourth that upped the lead to 6-2.
Ramiro Velasco, Walker Keller and Domenic Donato had doubles to add to the extra-base-hit barrage. OCC has now had 38.6% of its 127 hits go for extra bases.
Keller also made a spectacular diving catch of a hooking line drive in left field.
Eric Wagaman and John Balliet added to the 16-hit attack for OCC, which is now 3-0 against the Vikings (5-5) and has outscored Long Beach, 30-7.
Robeniol stranded seven runners, including the bases loaded in the second. The left-hander allowed four runs, only two of which were earned, on five hits.
Freshman Doug Magee allowed two hits in three scoreless relief innings, before Alex Lopez got the final three outs for the Pirates.
Moniot, who hit .168 in 53 games with 18 runs batted in and five stolen bases in 167 at-bats last season for the Ducks, is batting .386 with three homers, 13 RBIs and seven steals so far for the Pirates.
OCC has two nonconference games with College of the Canyons (at home Saturday and in Santa Clarita on Tuesday), before opening Orange Empire Conference play at home against Santa Ana on March 7.
Nonconference
Orange Coast 12, Long Beach 5
SCORE BY INNINGS
OCC 030 320 004 – 12 16 2
LBCC 002 110 001 – 5 9 0
Robeniol, Magee (6), Lopez (9) and Ceballos, Teel (9); Agnew, Zinger (6), Stammler (9) and Martinez. W – Robeniol, 3-0. L – Agnew, 3-2. 2B – Monroy (LB), Velasco (OCC), Powers (OCC), Jaekel (LB), Keller (OCC), Donato (OCC). 3B – Moniot (OCC). HR – Hawkins (OCC), Ceballos (OCC).
Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5
