Baseball team wins first conference game
Feb 28, 2009
The Irvine Valley baseball team battled back from an early deficit to win its first Orange Empire Conference game of the season, beating Golden West, 6-4, Saturday afternoon at home.
Irvine Valley, which dropped its conference opener to Saddleback, 4-3, on Thursday, improved its record to 8-7 overall and 1-1 in conference.
Golden West fell to 7-9-2 overall and 0-2 in conference.
"We received a great start on the mound, finally played good defense and got some real clutch hits today," IVC coach Kent Madole said. "We had all three phases of the game firing."
The Rustlers still held a 2-0 lead after three innings.
But IVC answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, one run in both the fifth and sixth innings and two more in the seventh to go ahead, 6-2.
Golden West scored a run in both the eighth and ninth innings, but it wasn't enough.
Irvine Valley got a very strong effort from sophomore starting pitcher Daniel Cabuling. The lefty earned his first win of the season, going 7.0 innings and giving up two runs on nine hits and two walks.
Cabuling had 11 strikeouts, including striking out the side in the second inning.
"He really set the tone," Madole said of Cabuling. "He had been a hard luck guy so far without a win, but he has been throwing great all season. He has been very consistent for us."
Cabuling lowered his ERA to 2.28 in 23 2/3 innings. He also has 29 strikeouts.
Freshman Mike Sianez threw 2/3 off an inning in relief of Cabuling, allowing one run on two hits and a walk. Freshman Andrew Jimenez gave up a walk that brought in Golden West's run in the eighth. But Jimenez was able to get out of a jam.
Freshman Gary Gerhardt earned his fourth save of the season, finishing off the ninth inning. He allowed a run on two hits and had one strikeout.
IVC got started on offense in the fourth inning. Sophomore catcher Connor Rhoads doubled down the right field line. After two outs were recorded, sophomore third baseman Vince Hungerford singled into left to bring in Rhoads for the Lasers' first run.
Hungerford then advanced to second base on a throwing error by Golden West's catcher and he scored when sophomore left fielder Kory Burkhart singled through the left side.
The Lasers took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning on a lead-off solo home run to left field by sophomore designated hitter Alonzo Vasquez off Golden West reliever Nick Torres. It was Vasquez's first home run of the season.
Freshman first baseman Steven Bayko made it a 4-2 lead for Irvine Valley when he led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a home run. He crushed a pitch out over the fence in right field.
The Lasers scored their final two runs in the seventh on a double by Vasquez, a Golden West error and a sacrifice fly by Rhoads.
Hungerford was 3 for 3 with a walk, a run scored and one RBI, freshman center fielder Thomas Mobley was 2 for 3 and was hit by a pitch, Vasquez went 2 for 5 with two runs scored and one RBI and Rhoads was 1 for 2 with a walk, a run scored and one RBI.
Golden West was led by third baseman Alex Bayus, who went 3 for 5 with one RBI, Steve Monahan, who was 2 for 2 and catcher Jeff Sanchez and right fielder Alec Rosales, who each went 2 for 3. Sanchez also had one RBI.
Irvine Valley plays again on Tuesday, traveling to Cypress for a conference game at 2 p.m. Cypress defeated the top-ranked team in the state, Santa Ana, 11-10, on Saturday.