OCC baseball team to play season opener; Coach Altobelli to be honored before game

Wendell Pickens Field on the OCC Campus is the home of the Pirates. The picture was taken last spring when Coach John Altobelli welcomed teams from Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor to play. (Photo Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

A day after learning about the death of their head coach John Altobelli, Orange Coast College’s baseball players decided to play Tuesday’s season opener against Southwestern College at Wendell Pickens Field at 2 p.m. on the OCC Campus.

“They came up to me yesterday and decided the wanted to play, so we’re going to play tomorrow and we’re going to honor Alto before the game and as best we can during the game and hopefully come out with a win,” said Nate Johnson, who has been named interim coach. Johnson was named by Altobelli before the season as the associate head coach.

College officials also met Monday to determine if the game would go on and a college spokesperson confirmed the decision was made to play the game.

There will also be a ceremony at 1:45 p.m. honoring Altobelli, his wife Keri and youngest daughter Alyssa, who all died along with Kobe Bryant and his youngest daughter Gianna. Nine people died in the crash, according to news reports.

OCC has parking ticket dispenses on campus for visitors.

We will have more on this story later.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com