OCC wins thriller in the 10th

BASEBALL

Orange Coast 5, Los Angeles Valley 4

COSTA MESA — Sophomore designated hitter Bryan Garza singled in two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to propel the host Pirates in the opener of the best-of-three Southern California Regional series Saturday.

Garza’s walk-off heroics were made necessary when the Monarchs (20-18) rallied for four in ninth to force extra innings, then scored in the 10th to take its first lead.

OCC’s Eilert Meyers was two for four with two runs driven in, Stefan Sabol was two for five with an RBI and Boog Powell was three for five and scored a run to pace an 11-hit attack for the Pirates (32-4-1).

Benny Agredano also hit a solo homer for OCC, while starter Keegan Yuhl blanked the Monarchs on three hits through eight innings, before losing the lead.

Ryan Evans picked up the win for OCC, which attempts to close out the series Sunday, beginning at 11 a.m.

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UC Irvine 2, UC Santa Barbara 0

IRVINE — Senior Crosby Slaught pitched seven shutout innings and junior Jeff Stephens went three for four with one run batted in to key the Anteaters in the second game of a weekend Big West Conference series on Saturday.

The win clinched the series for UCI (26-17, 10-7 in conference).

Slaught allowed four hits and struck out five, while Race Parmenter worked 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for his sixth save.

Scott Goettschling drove in the other run for UCI, which has won six in a row.

UCSB fell to 23-21, 9-8.

The series concludes Sunday.