No additional runs have been scored in this game.

OCC's Calvin Drummond is going for a complete game. Through eight innings, he's thrown 15 strikeouts.

The score is still 7-1 in favor of the Pirates.

3 more outs until the state championships Pirates.

Mt. San Jacinto College fans hate the umpires and I have to agree with them.

Through the top of the fifth inning, it seems like we got the majority of the good calls. Even when Drew Madrigal hit his home run in the fourth inning, he muttered something after he touched home plate.

I feel for the Eagles fans but when your pitchers are giving up a lot of hits and walks and Coast has a Major League prospect pitching on the mound, most umpires are going to favor us.

Sucks, but that's just the way it is in sports.

But Drummond is really pitching a fantastic game - this is the nastiest I've seen him pitch this year. He has a dozen strkeouts through his first six innings.

Also, I talked to the Concordia University at Irvine's baseball coach. He said he wants to recruit Ryan Sheeks, Chris Licon and, so far the player of the game, D.J. Arellano.

He added Concordia broke 19 offensive records last season. If any colleges get any of the Coast player I've mentioned, then they are lucky.

Coast is up 7-1 thanks to a bases clearing triple by D.J. Arellano.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Arellano drove a ball to the right-center field gap scoring both Brett Wallac and Scott Hong. Eagles' center fielder Justin Wybenga dove for it but it was just out of his reach.

Also, through six innngs, OCC starting pitcher Calvin Drummond (in his first playoff outing) has 12 strikeouts and only gave up three hits.

[Photo of Drummond by Hank Schellingerhout]

The Pirates added another run in the bottom of the third inning.

After Coast's Ricky Stokes' diving infield single, D.J. Arellano (right) drove Stokes in to make the score 4-0.

The Eagles promptly made a pitching change right after Arellano's single. Right-handed hurler B.J. Salsbury (left) came in to get the last out of the inning.

Mt. San Jacinto responded right away by scoring a run of its own in the top of the fourth inning.

Right fielder Drew Madrigal hit a home run against Drummond ending his streak of retiring six consecutive hitters.

At the end of the fourth inning, the score is 4-1 in favor of the Pirates.

[Photos by Tony Lee]

Orange Coast College's starting pitcher Calvin Drummond gave up two early singles but the Mt. San Jacinto Eagles failed to score any runs in the top of the first.

Coast on the other hand had no problem scoring its runners in scoring position.

Left fielder Ryan Sheeks started the bottom of the first with a first-pitch single up the middle.

Mykal Stokes (right), on a 3-1 count, executed a perfect hit and run play and advanced Sheeks to third.

Then, OCC's All-Orange Empire Conference third baseman Drew Hillman (riht) hit a ball over the center fielder's head for a triple scoring in both runs. Stokes, who scored from first, also dodged a tag by catcher Ryan Lefeure.

Pirates added one more run after Brett Wallach drove in Hillman off an error.

Drummond settled down after the first and has retired the last six batters - four of them with strikeouts.

Eagles' starting pitcher Michael Crain also pitched a scoreless inning.

It's bottom of the third, one out, and the Pirates are leading 3-0.

[Photo of Stokes by Tony Lee]
[Photo of Hillman - courtesy of OCC]

Orange Coast College Pirates

1) LF - Ryan Sheeks
2) CF - Mykal Stokes
3) 3B - Drew Hillman
4) 1B - Brett Wallach
5) RF - Ricky Stokes
6) SS - Beck Wheeler
7) DH - Scott Hong
8) C - D.J. Arellano
9) 2B - Alonzo Torres

Starting pitcher - Calvin Drummond (8-5)

Mt. San Jacinto College Eagles

1) 2B - Anthony Smith
2) SS - Joh Eshleman
3) RF - Drew Madrigal
4) 1B - Garrett Caldwell
5) 3B - Devin Greco
6) DH - Randy Bruce
7) LF - Josh Ray
8) CF -Jusin Wybenga
9) C - Ryan Lefeure

Starting pitcher: Michael Crain (0-0)

[Photos by Tony Lee]

After a slump going into the playoffs, the Orange Coast College Pirates have played through the Super Regional Playoffs like the No. 1 ranked team in the state.

In Saturdays game, the Pirates defeated Cypress College 11-3 and remains undefeated in the postseason.

[Click here if you want to read a press release by OCC Sports Information Director Tony Altobelli]

Yours truly will be at Sunday's game to cover it live on the blog at noon.

[Photo by Hank Schellingerhout]

The Orange Coast College Pirates should've saved some runs from Friday's 15-1 victory.

Coast, in a 10-inning thriller, beat Ventura College 1-0 thanks to pitcher Chris Licon's (pictured) performance and one big swing from Scott Hong.

According to the press release by OCC Sports Information Director Tony Altobelli, "With the win, second-seeded OCC (31-13) will host next week's Southern California Super Regional Playoffs, which begin on Friday at noon. The Pirates will play Friday's second game, which will begin at 4 p.m. against an opponent to be determined."

[Click here to read about game two and how the other teams in the playoffs played]

Congratulations Coast. You're one step closer to the state championships.

[Photo by Melissa Lee]

My lucky shoes are now 8-1. I can't believe I didn't think about this until half the semester went by.

[Click here to read my sports column "It's Me, Tony Lee" to read about why I started wearing these shoes.]

With an overall record to 13-17 with only two weeks of school left to go, I plan on attending as many events as possible to get my record up to .500.

Game one is in the books and the Orange Coast College Pirates looks like the No. 1 ranked baseball team again.

When I talked to starting pitcher Brett Wallach about winning the Orange Empire Conference player of the year, he said he's never won an award like that and worked hard on his game this year.

One of the things he's worked on is how he handles himself after he throws a mediocre pitch.

"I mean that stuff doesn't really bother me anymore," Wallach said of the first pitch of the game that almost went over the fence. "I kind of let that stuff go. I mean it's just one pitch."

Wallach also bats cleanup for the Pirates and will be asked to do a lot during the playoffs. I hope he'll rise to the occasion and his fellow teammates can vibe off of that.

I also talked to interim head coach Bob Flint about the funk the team was in. He's told me before that in whatever sport and in whatever skill level it's in, offense will be inconsistent but defense is consistent.

"It's the nature of offense," Flint said. "It's here and it goes away - it comes and goes. Today it was there."

Since head coach John Altobelli can't be at the games, he's found creative ways to get game updates. It used to be his wife Keri text messaging him but now there's a live world wide web feed that he can look at.

"At least I got a visual. I got to write notes - things we did good, things we did bad," Altobelli said. "It wasn't too too bad but still painful but I guess I'm paying my price."

Some of his notes included a play between Ryan Sheeks and Drew Hillman. He said the team does that drill maybe once every two weeks but he wanted to reiterate to the team that every drill means something because it could be the difference in a one run game.

He also talke about the depth of his roster and also two out clutch hits - especially from Ricky Stokes.

"Not having him early in the year, we really missed his bat and his leadership," Altobelli said. "Boy he went through some hard times when he came back,he kept his chin up...That's why you're a good team. Good players and good teams push each other."

[Photo of posters that Alexis and Alyssa Altobelli made for the team - photo by Tony Lee]

You had a pretty good day at the plate today. What was going well for you?
I was seeing the ball pretty good – I got some runners on early and did my job to get some Pirates in. But we all hit the ball hard today.

You guys won pretty big game today – good hitting good pitching. Are you guys out of your funk?
Yeah we were in a funk in the last couple games but we’re back. Everybody’s putting the ball into play, a lot of clutch hits. We’ve been hitting well with two outs and hopefully it’ll carry on and keep on going.

Head coach John Altobelli is definitely gone for the playoffs now. Are you guys doing anything differently?
Well we lost him but we also lost J-Wat (Jourdan Watanabe) at the beginning of the season so we always have them in our hearts. We’re playing for Alto and J-Wat and everybody out there supporting Orange Coast.

Anything else you want to add about today?
Great day for Orange Coast and happy birthday Alto.

[Photo by Tony Lee]

Orange Coast College's Kris Martin hit his first home run of the season on Friday to help the Pirates win 15-1 against Ventura College.

But Martin told me that this wasn't just his first home run of the season, it was also his first home run of his life.

"You know what, I have so much emotions going through me," Martin said. "I went in there with a clear mind state and he threw me a fastball and I jumped on it."

Martin, who came in the game as a pinch hitter, said even though he doesn't start, he's ready to contribute when he gets the chance.

Once again, congratulations Kris.

[Photo by Tony Lee]