Irvine Valley's baseball team struggled again against Santa Ana on Tuesday.

The Lasers lost, 13-3, to the Dons at Santa Ana in an Orange Empire Conference game.

It was Santa Ana's third straight win over Irvine Valley this season. The Dons won each game by at least 10 runs and out-scored the Lasers, 47-12, in the three games.

The Dons (28-10, 13-6) jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Marcus Piazzisi led the inning off with a double and advanced to third when he beat the throw on Matt Hart's bunt; Hart was safe on the fielder's choice.

Derek Eligio followed with a sacrifice fly to score Piazzisi for the first run of the game.

Jake Eccles later hit a three-run home run in the inning to give Santa Ana a 4-0 lead.

The Dons offense continued to roll in the second inning when Hart hit a one-out single followed by Eligio reaching on a hit by pitch. Hardman loaded the bases when he singled and Miller cleared them with a grand slam home run putting the Dons up 8-0.

The Lasers (19-18, 8-11) got on the board in the third inning when Colton Hamill sparked a two-out rally with an infield single. Connor Rhoads followed with a single to right field and Jon Saldana drew a walk to load the bases.

Robbie Robinson plated two runners with a double to left-centerfield and Sean Williams reached on an error allowing Saldana to score cutting the lead to 8-3.

But the Dons got the three runs back in the fifth inning when TJ Yasuhara hit a one-out single and stole second base. He later scored on Hart's RBI-single with two outs. Eligio followed with a two-run home run, putting Santa Ana up, 11-3.

Santa Ana added a run each in the bottom of the sixth and eighth innings to cap the scoring.

The Dons ended up with 17 hits in the game.

Irvine Valley finished with just six hits in the contest. Robinson finished 3 for 4 with two RBI to lead the Lasers.

Gary Gerhardt took the loss on the mound. He went one inning and gave up four runs on three hits and a walk. Gerhardt's record slipped to 4-5 on the season.
Andrew Jimenez pitched four innings and allowed seven runs on nine hits with three strikeouts.
Zach Nuno finished the game for the Lasers. He gave up two runs on five hits in three innings. Nuno had three strikeouts.

Brian Peacock improved to 5-2 on the season as he pitched seven innings allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits with seven strikeouts for Santa Ana. David Piraino and Nicholas Perez each pitched one inning to end the game. Piraino picked up all three of his outs on strikeouts.

Irvine Valley plays again on Thursday at Fullerton at 2 p.m.