Irvine Valley tops Rustlers in extra inning affair

Extra innings were required to determine a winner and Irvine Valley came out on top defeating Golden West 4-2 in 10 innings at Hoover Field.

Irvine Valley (8-19, 4-11) struck first as Brett Hamilton leadoff the game with a double came around to score. Scoring would cease from there until the sixth inning thanks to brilliant performances by both starting pitchers. Golden West's (14-16, 5-10) starter Tanner Brown settled down after the first inning and went a full 9 innings allowing 6 hits on 1 earned run striking out 9. Lasers' starter Chris Lumanlan was stellar as well going 7.2 innings giving up 1 earned run on 5 hits and 2 strikeouts.

Great hustle by Frank Califano allowed Golden West to tie the game in the sixth inning as he stole home after Lasers' catcher Ben DePerry tried to throw out Jordan Lucio stealing second base. Irvine Valley would regain the lead after Matt Harris scored on a wild pitch in the seventh inning. Califano would score again in the eighth inning to tie the game courtesy of a Lucio sacrifice fly.

Brown was lifted after the ninth inning and Irvine Valley took advantage breaking the tie with an RBI single by Hamilton. Dallas Porter gave the Lasers an insurance run with an RBI infield single to ultimately seal the extra inning victory.

Golden West will be at Hoover Field only 3 more times this season. April 8 will be against Cypress, April 11 is against Santa Ana and the final game of the season on April 24 will feature Orange Coast.