Santa Ana Advances with 10-4 Win over Ohlone

Irvine, Calif. - What the bats started for the Santa Ana College baseball team, the arms finished as the Dons rolled to a 10-4 win over Ohlone College on Day 1 of the 3C2A Baseball State Championship on Saturday night inside Great Park.

With the win, the Dons (41-6-1), earned a spot in the championship semifinals on Sunday at 2 p.m., where they will take on Palomar College, who topped Feather River, 6-2, earlier on Saturday. The loss drops the Renegades (40-9) into a must-win game against Feather River College on Sunday, beginning at 10 a.m.

Thanks to a four-run first inning and a three-run third, Santa Ana grabbed all the momentum early in the contest and from there, SAC relief pitcher Johnny Morales kept Ohlone quiet over the final four innings. Morales earned his second save, holding the Renegades scoreless on just three hits with seven strikeouts, preserving the win for Dons' starter Andrew Phillips (9-0).

Phillips dodged some potential big innings and earned the win, allowing four runs on eight hits over five innings with three walks and two strikeouts.

Ohlone had opportunities to get even closer to the Dons, loading the bases in the third and sixth innings, only to come up empty each time. The Renegades finished the evening with 10 runners left on base and just four runs, in spite of a sturdy, 11-hit performance. 

SAC's Niko Paoletto went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and a three-run home run that highlighted the Dons' four-run first inning. The offense was well distributed throughout the Santa Ana lineup with the first six hitters of the lineup – Paoletto, Jack Mueller, Aiden Marquez, Evan Reiter, Barrett Ronson, and Ken Tomitaka – each collecting two hits, scoring all 10 runs and driving in six. Ben Melendrez anchored the bottom portion of the lineup with two hits and two RBI.

Ohlone's offense was led by Chuy Vasquez, who went 2-for-5 with two RBI, while Cam Hegamin, Joaquin Stuart, and Paul Wagner each had two hits apiece. Stuart and Wagner each also scored a run and drove in a run for the Renegades.

The Renegade bullpen did a solid job of keeping the Dons in sight as the fivesome of Nick Valentine, Caden Roth, Brennan Baptist, Ben Thompson, and Zak Vasquez combined to hold the Dons to two runs over the final 6 2/3 innings with Roth and Thompson striking out a combined nine SAC batters over their 4 1/3 innings of work.

Courtesy of Tony Altobelli, CCCSIA