Irvine Valley's baseball team rallied from two runs down in the ninth inning and then won in the 10th in the squad's best victory so far this season.
The Lasers won at Santa Ana, 8-7, in 10 innings in an Orange Empire Conference game on Tuesday afternoon.
IVC bounced back from a tough 8-7 loss to Santa Ana last Saturday at home in the conference opener.
Irvine Valley also handed Santa Ana (13-2, 1-1) its first home loss of the season.
The Lasers improved their record to 8-7 overall and 1-1 in conference.
Irvine Valley opened the scoring with a solo home run by sophomore center fielder Dillon Millar in the top of the first inning before Santa Ana's Tommy Anderson tied the game in the bottom of the first when he scored on Chris Major's sacrifice fly.
The Lasers took a 4-1 with one unearned run in each of the second, fourth and fifth innings.
Freshman first baseman Tyler Wagner hit an RBI double in the top of the second, Wagner knocked in a run in the third with a single through the left side and sophomore shortstop Jordan Gillerman's sacrifice bunt brought in a run in the top of the third inning
The Dons answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to make the game 4-3 on a RBI-single by Anderson before Nathan Cervantes scored on a Colin Winn sacrifice fly. The Dons took their first lead of the game at 5-4 with two runs in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Justin Mellano and a RBI-single by Anderson.
But the Lasers came back with a run in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 5-5 with two doubles. Millar hit the first double down the left field line before scoring on a RBI-double by sophomore left fielder Clint Jack.
The Dons had another answer as they reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning with three-straight doubles by Major, Jeff Murray and Austin Pritchard. Murray doubled in Major before scoring on Pritchard's double.
The Lasers ninth-inning rally started when Millar reached on an error before Jack was hit by a pitch. After a sacrifice bunt moved both runners over, Gillerman hit a RBI-groundout to score Millar and make the game 7-6. Freshman third baseman Austin Reynolds then tied the game with a RBI-double to left center.
The eventual game-winning run for IVC came across in the top of the 10th inning with Wagner scoring on a RBI-single by Jack.
The Dons tried to answer in the bottom of the 10th, getting a one-out single by Winn, however he was caught stealing in the next at bat by IVC sophomore catcher Branden Williams.
After Patrick Cromwell drew a walk, the game came to a finish when IVC sophomore reliever Jason McLellan struck out Andrew Natividad.
McLellan earned the win. He pitched 2.2 innings and didn't allow a run, giving up just one hit and one walk and striking out one.
Santa Ana's Andrew Hodges (4-1) lost for the first time this season as he allowed three runs, one earned, on five hits in 3.2 innings of work, his longest outing of the season.
Guillermo Sanchez started the game for the Dons and threw 6.1 innings while allowing five runs, two earned, on six hits with five strikeouts. Both he and Hodges combined for just three earned runs as the Dons defense committed five errors.
Sophomore Cole Millerd started on the mound for IVC and went five innings. He gave up three runs on six his and one walk with two strikeouts.
Freshman Matthew Markus also pitched an inning of scoreless relief for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley finished with 11 hits in the game. Millar was 3 for 5 with a walk, a home run, four runs scored and one RBI. Jack went 2 for 4 with a run and two RBI. And Wagner was 4 for 5 with a run and two RBI.
Irvine Valley and Santa Ana meet again on Thursday at IVC at 2 p.m. in the decider of the three-game conference series.
