Santa Ana tops Golden West 5-4 to complete three-game sweep in Orange Empire play

CCCAA Baseball: Scoreboard l Standings

SANTA ANA - No. 3 Santa Ana Baseball completed a sweep of the No. 22 ranked Golden West Rustlers (14-12, 2-6) with a 5-4 win in Friday's Orange Empire Conference matchup. 

Despite giving up three runs in the first inning, starting pitcher Cedrick Perez battled for seven innings to pick up his fifth win of the year. Perez struck out nine while giving up four runs on the mound. At the plate, the sophomore out of Fountain Valley went 1-for-3 with a run and a walk.

The Dons (20-5-1, 5-4) came to life in the third inning as freshman infielder Austin Haller pulled a pitch down the right-field line to run out a two-RBI triple to make it a 3-2 game. 

Golden West responded in the next inning with a solo home run to push their lead to 4-2 before SAC got busy again. A pair of doubles by Brock Denbo and Thomas Williams quickly cut the deficit back to just one in the bottom half of the inning. 

Following a few scoreless innings by both teams, the Dons finally broke through in the seventh when Kyle Ashworth came up clutch once again as he launched his seventh home run of the season and second of the series. The two-run shot by the freshman outfielder gave Santa Ana 5-4 lead with just two innings to go. 

The Dons then turned to freshman reliever Matt Schavone, who went the rest of the way to earn a two-inning save. Schavone struck out two and held the Rustlers scoreless to secure the win for SAC. 

With the win, Santa Ana stays in the hunt for an Orange Empire Conference championship as they sit just one game behind a three-way tie for first place between Saddleback, Fullerton and Riverside. 

The Dons will continue OEC play by hosting No. 2 Saddleback in the first of a three-game series starting on Tuesday, March 29th at 2:00 p.m.

(Santa Ana College Athletics)