Halper, Dabalack Help Orange Coast Sweep Into State Tournament

Orange Coast rode the bat of Justin Halper and the arm of Darin Dabalack all the way to Sacramento.

Halper had two home runs and Dabalack pitched 5 2/3 innings of three-hit relief as OCC completed a doubleheader sweep of Long Beach City College, 7-0, Sunday at Los Angeles Harbor College, and advanced to the State tournament that starts Saturday in Sacramento. OCC won the first game, 9-5.

“This is great,” Halper said. “The team no one respected at the start of the year--picked to finish fifth in conference--now we’re in the final four in the State.”

Halper’s first homer, a two-run opposite-field shot in the second, gave starter Kyle Wilson a 2-0 lead. But Wilson, who got the victory in the first game, was struck by a line drive off the bat of Miguel Inzunza in the fourth inning, and left the game.

Dabalack (5-6) came on and induced pinch-hitter David McIntosh to hit into an inning-ending double play.

“Darin really sucked it up today,” first-year OCC Coach John Altobelli said of Dabalack, who pitched 8 1/3 innings Saturday. “We got a key double play, he started to smell the victory, and the adrenaline started flowing.”

Halper hit a solo homer in the fourth, then Richard Ernst and Paul McDaniels, who was five for eight in the doubleheader, hit run-scoring doubles in the sixth. Greg Folsom’s homer in the eighth capped the scoring.

OCC (30-20) scored six runs in the ninth inning of the opener to erase a two-run deficit and force the second game. Ernst singled in Randy Karliner with the winning run.

“I don’t know how to explain that ninth inning,” Altobelli said. “In (community college) baseball, anything can happen. Someone’s watching over us.”

OCC, which advanced to the State finals for the first time since 1987, won four consecutive games in two days after losing the regional opener to San Diego Mesa Friday. Long Beach finishes the season 23-20.