Orange Panthers celebrate after the final out Tuesday against Irvine. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
It’s already been a special year for Orange’s baseball team, which captured the Grove League championship with an 11-1 record.
The Panthers’ success continued Tuesday when they pushed across a run in the top of the 11th inning and went on to defeat Irvine 2-1 in a non-league game at Irvine in a contest than lasted about three and a half hours.
Both teams are headed to the CIF playoffs. Coach Gabriel Cota’s Irvine team (14-13 overall) clinched second place last week in the Pacific Coast League after a strong finish in league play.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
It was senior day at Irvine and Cota played all 16 seniors, giving players who didn’t start most of the season a chance. A large contingent of parents, grand-parents and friends turned out to cheer on the Vaqueros.
“First, credit to Orange, real good team, they’ve had a great year,” Cota said. “George (Chace) is a great coach and obviously they competed and kind of shut us down early. I’m just super proud of my team and my program. We played all 16 of our seniors pretty much the whole game. I’m just proud they were able to compete against a quality program like that.
“We had plenty of chances to get it done, but nothing but a testament to Orange and how they competed, they were able to get it done, hopefully they will make a good run in the playoffs and us too.”
Both teams had chances to score in extra innings but Orange (19-9 overall) came through in the 11th.
In the 11th inning, the Panthers Myles Kennedy reached base on an infield single. Jacob Rodriguez was aboard on an error to put runners on first and third.
Then, Ethan Giraldo laid down a sacrifice bunt and Kennedy at first hesitated, then broke for home and slid in safely for the eventual game-winner.
Irvine (19-12) started the bottom of the 11th inning on a base hit by Karlin Murai but the next three batters were retired.
Giraldo also had a sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning to drive in Kennedy, who had walked, with the Panthers first run. Irvine’s Owen Song walked, stole second and third and came home an an error in the bottom of the inning to tie the game 1-1.
“It’s not designed like that, to be honest,” Chace said of the play in the 11th. “We’re supposed to be able to push it to the first baseman and shuffle into it and go. Both times we unfortunately didn’t execute the bunting part but Myles is a very intelligent base runner. I saw what he did. He deeked him like he was going back and they tried to get the out, he’s too fast, and he’s halfway down the line. He made an adjustment and took a chance.. He made some big base running plays for us today.”
Kennedy was excited to score the game-winner.
“I was just trying to be aggressive, passed balls, anything down, it was a great bunt by Ethan,” he said. “They made the same mistake they did the first time and I scored. It’s huge, we’re on a big winning streak right now and we will carry that momentum into the playoffs.”
“That bunt was amazing, when I saw the ball get down, I knew Myles would score instantly, it just felt amazing, 11 inning game, ending on two bunts to score two runs,” Giraldo said. “It feels amazing I was part of such an amazing victory and amazing RBI.”
Orange got excellent pitching from starter Evan Gonzalez, who allowed one run and two hits through six innings, striking out 14. He struck out the side in four innings.
“I knew what I had to do and what had to be done to beat this team and I came out and said, ‘I’m going to ruin their senior night tonight,'” he said. “I’m going to go out and shove it against them and I just filled up the zone today.”
Daniel Vergara came on in the seventh and pitched three scoreless innings. Rodriguez and Cooper Gschwend-son were also effective out of the bullpen in the final innings for Orange.
Irvine used eight pitchers include Roshan Patel who came on in the seventh inning and pitched four scoreless innings until Orange scored in the 11th inning.
Irvine had runners on third base in the seventh and ninth innings and two on in the 10th but could not get a key hit to win the game.
Still, the game was a meaningful experience for the seniors and other Vaquero players who were honored before the game and took pictures with their parents after the game.
“It was a great game for our seniors and let all of our seniors who normally don’t get the chance to play, I think it was an amazing game, the outcome wasn’t what we wanted but if all the seniors all got the at bats they deserved and all the hard work and effort they put into the season paid off today,” said one of the seniors Smith Spivey, a regular starter.
“It was just a great team game overall, whether we won or lost.”
Spivey shared a special post-game moment with his father Eric, who has been the public address announcer for the program the last four years. Eric Spivey’s youngest son, Sullivan Spivey, also played at Irvine.
“It’s fun having him back there because it calms me down almost,” Smith Spivey said.
Spivey is optimistic about the Vaqueros chances in the CIF playoffs.
“I think we have a great chance of winning it all,” said Spivey who retired two batters on the mound Tuesday. “We have the pitching to back it up, our bats have been super hot recently and we’re all pushing in one direction right now. I think we have a great chance of finishing really strong. We want to keep the momentum going from league.”
Playoff pairings will be announced Saturday.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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