Abady pitches baseball team past Santa Ana at home

Abady pitches baseball team past Santa Ana at home

The one-two punch from Irvine Valley's top two pitchers continued at home against Santa Ana on Tuesday.

Freshman left-hander Ryan Abady threw his third complete game of the season in a 4-2 Orange Empire Conference victory for Irvine Valley.

Abady gave up two runs on seven hits and one walk with two strikeouts to help IVC improve its record to 19-16 overall and 9-11 in conference play.

After Tuesday's action and with one game left in the regular season, Irvine Valley was in a tie for sixth place with Riverside - a game behind both Fullerton and Saddleback for fourth.

The Lasers are chasing a playoff spot.

Abady (7-3) picked up his seventh win of the season to tie sophomore teammate and IVC ace Justin Zielinski (7-2).

Abady's ERA moved to 1.87, which still ranks second best in the conference behind Zielinski (0.88).

Irvine Valley backed Abady with a run in the first, two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh.

The Lasers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to Santa Ana error, which allowed leadoff hitter and freshman left fielder Clint Jack to reach third base.

Sophomore right fielder Brett Hamilton later drove in Jack with a groundout.

Santa Ana tied the game in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI single by Colin Winn.

But the Lasers took the lead for good in the bottom half of the sixth.

With runners on second and third base, freshman first baseman Lucas Tancas scored from third on a passed ball. The passed ball allowed Hamilton to move from second base to third.

And Hamilton came home on a squeeze bunt by sophomore third baseman Adam Vargas.

The sacrifice gave Irvine Valley a 3-1 lead.

Santa Ana made it a 3-2 game in the top of the seventh after an RBI single by Manuel Segura.

IVC tacked on a run in the bottom of the seventh inning on single through the left side of the infield by freshman designated hitter Robbie Espinosa. The hit scored freshman catcher Branden Williams, who walked earlier in the inning.

Abady then did the rest.

Andy Weddle (3-6) took the loss for Santa Ana, allowing three runs (one earned) on seven hits  with two strikeouts. A.J. Franks threw a scoreless final 1.2 innings for the Dons.

Segura was 2 for 3 with one RBI and Nestor Linares went 2 for 4 for Santa Ana (14-20-1 overall, 4-16 conference) in the contest.

Hamilton had a big game at the plate for IVC, going 3 for 4 with one RBI. Tancas was also 3 for 4.

Zielinski will take the mound for Irvine Valley in the final game of the regular season for Irvine Valley at Santa Ana on Thursday at 2 p.m.

Zielinski, who has pitched 92 innings so far for the Lasers this year in 11 starts, has seven complete game efforts.