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Santa Ana College players celebrate Saturday after winning the regional. (Photo courtesy SAC Sports Information).
With a sweep of the No. 13 seeded Fullerton Hornets (26-22) in the Southern California Regional Finals, the Santa Ana College Baseball team has punched its ticket to the California Community College Athletic Association State Championships for the first time since 2011.
The tournament will be held Saturday, May 27 through Monday, May 29.
In game one at Santa Ana, the Dons (33-15) absorbed Fullerton’s best punch as they found themselves down 5-2 following a grand slam from Niko Santamaria in the sixth inning.
But Santa Ana’s ability to score runs is second to none, which they proved in the bottom half of the inning.
Austin Haller and Mikey Rocha both singled with one out to set up Marc Schavone for a game tying three-run home run, his fifth of the season.
The Dons used that momentum to score three more in the inning on a Hornet error that brought in two and an RBI double from Eddie Pelc.
The Dons scored once more on an RBI double from Mario Tostado and cruised on defense to earn a 9-5 win, gaining a 1-0 series advantage.
Starting pitcher Hauze Fragoso gave SAC another quality start with five and two third innings while giving up three runs (two earned) and striking out five.
Schavone came out of the bullpen and picked up the win as he struck out three and gave up two runs over an inning and two thirds. Joey Iglesiaswas called on to record the final five outs to earn his fourth save of the season.
On Saturday, the Dons took care of business as they came alive late to score 12 runs on 16 hits. Pelc gave Santa Ana an early lead with a two-run shot over the right field fence in the third inning. It was his ninth of the year.
After the Hornets produced two of their own runs to tie the game in the fourth, Austin Haller came up big with a two out RBI single up the middle to put the Dons up 3-2.
Left-handed reliever Rocco Gurrola was then able to silence the Hornet bats for the next three innings to allow SAC to create some separation.
The Dons scored nine runs in the sixth and seventh innings, highlighted by a grand slam from Troy Kent, his 12th home of the season to help the Dons earn a 12-4 win.
Santa Ana will now be headed North to the 3C2A State Championships which will be held at Folsom Lake College from May 27-29. SAC was the first team in the state to secure their spot and will be joined by two teams from the North and the winner of the second SoCal Regional Final between Saddleback College and College of the Canyons.
The pairings are expected to be announced Monday.
—Courtesy Santa Ana College sports information
