Baseball team ranked in CCCBCA South Region Poll

Baseball team ranked in CCCBCA South Region Poll

Irvine Valley's baseball team entered the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association Poll this week.

The Lasers were ranked No. 17 out of 20 teams in the South Region Poll.

Irvine Valley has a record of 9-7 overall and is 1-2 in the Orange Empire Conference.

The Lasers are hitting .280 as a team and have a team ERA of 2.47 entering Thursday's action.

Freshman first baseman Lucas Tancas, freshman center fielder Dillon Millar and sophomore right fielder Brett Hamilton lead the team on offense.

Tancas is batting .453 with a home run, three triples, five doubles and nine RBI.

Millar is hitting .344 with a triple, three doubles and eight RBI and Hamilton is batting .333 with two doubles, four triples and nine RBI.

Sophomore right-hander Justin Zielinski and freshman lefty Ryan Abady have paced the IVC pitching staff.

Both pitchers have records of 3-0.

Zielinski has given up just one earned run in 38 innings pitches and has a 0.24 ERA, while Abady has a 1.08 ERA after allowing just four earned runs in 33.1 innings.

Irvine Valley hosts Golden West at 2 p.m. on Thursday and then Orange Coast at 12 p.m. on Saturday.

All eight teams from the Orange Empire Conference were ranked in the latest poll with Fullerton at No. 1, Santa Ana at No. 3, Cypress at No. 4 Riverside at No. 6, Orange Coast at No. 10, Saddleback at No. 12, Golden West at No. 14.

IVC defeated Riverside, 4-1, and lost a tough 2-0 decision in 12 innings to Fullerton in its first two games in conference play.