Irvine Valley's baseball team made it a game for a while, but Santa Ana scored five runs in the sixth inning and four in the seventh and the Lasers fell, 13-2, at home on Tuesday afternoon.
Irvine Valley's record slipped to 8-21 overall and 4-13 in the Orange Empire Conference, while Santa Ana improved to 19-11 overall and 10-7 in conference.
Santa Ana moved within a game of first place of Saddleback in the standings.
The Lasers got on the board first, scoring in the bottom of the third inning thanks to a Santa Ana error. Freshman catcher Ben DePerry brought in the run after singling earlier in the inning.
Santa Ana answered with three runs in the top of the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.
IVC came back with a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 3-2.
Sophomore second baseman Dallas Porter, who had singled and stole second base, scored on a wild pitch.
But Santa Ana took control of the contest with the big sixth and seventh innings.
The key blow in the sixth was a two-run single by Joshua Vargas. Vargas also knocked in two runs with a single to center in the top of the seventh.
In all, Santa Ana finished with 14 hits to seven for Irvine Valley.
Vargas ended up 4 for 5 with two runs scored and four RBI. Manuel Segura was 3 for 5 with three runs scored and Frankie Nogales went 2 for 3 with three RBI.
Daniel Ferrel earned the win on the mound for Santa Ana in relief. He got the final two outs of the fifth inning.
Ferrel replaced starter Evanne Wilkes, who pitched 4 1/3 innings and gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits and one walk with one strikeout.
James Roll picked up a save with four scoreless innings for Santa Ana.
Brett DaRe' took the loss for IVC. He went 3 1/3 innings and gave up three runs on two hits and three walks with two strikeouts.
IVC relievers gave up the next 10 runs.
The Lasers had seven batters with one hit each in the contest.
Irvine Valley plays again on Thursday, hosting Riverside in a conference game at 2 p.m.
