The Irvine Valley baseball team swept the three-game Orange Empire Conference series from  defending state champion Riverside with a wild 10-9 win Thursday afternoon at the Evans Sports Complex in Riverside.

"It was one of the most exciting games we've played this year," IVC Coach Kent Madole said. "And what was nice about it, was that it was a total team win. We had a lot of guys contribute today."

It was Irvine Valley's third straight win overall and improved its record to 26-12 overall and 10-5 in conference. The Lasers are just one game shy of tying the most wins in a season in program history.

Irvine Valley also pulled into a tie with Orange Coast for second place in the conference standings after the Pirates lost their second straight game to Saddleback on Thursday.

Riverside, which suffered its third staight loss, jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings before IVC scored four runs on five hits in the top of the third for a 4-3 lead.

RCC forged ties at 4-4 and 7-7 before the Lasers came up with three runs (after two outs) in the top of the ninth for a 10-7 lead.

Freshman second baseman Sean Williams stroked a leg double up the middle to drive in freshman first baseman Connor Rhoads and sophomore designated hitter Alex Agortsas for a 9-7 lead and send freshman catcher Corey Thibault to third.

On a 0-1 pitch to freshman third baseman Vince Hungerford, Thibault raced to the plate. Right-handed pitcher Kyle Morgan’s pitch was low and late and Thibault stole home for what proved to be the winning run.

In the bottom of the ninth for Riverside, designated hitter Eric Krzysiak doubled down the left-field line with the bases loaded and two outs off IVC sophomore closer Dean Persinger, driving in first baseman Luis Tovar, who had walked, and Jeremiah Mejia, who had pinch-hit for catcher Michael Neff.

But the rally ended when Persinger, who had 13 saves, induced a comebacker off the bat of Riverside center fielder Cody Madison to end the game.

Persinger hung on to get the win and improve to 3-0, while Morgan (3-2) took the loss.

For IVC, sophomore center fielder Matt Ivanoff, Rhoads and Thibault each had three hits, while right fielder Bryce Holland and left fielder Michael Hur each had three hits for Riverside.

Irvine Valley had 15 hits in all after getting just one hit in a 6-5 win over Riverside on Tuesday at home.

"It was really nice to see the bats come alive today," Madole said. "The offense got going a little bit."

Irvine Valley visits first-place Santa Ana on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.