Irvine Valley's baseball team bounced back from a rough game at San Diego Mesa on Tuesday with an impressive 13-1 win over the Olympians on Thursday at home.
The Lasers pounded out 15 hits, had freshman shortstop Dustin Angus hit his first collegiate home run and got a steady performance on the mound from freshman righty Keenan Cisneros in the victory.
Cisneros, making his first start of the year, went seven innings and gave up just one run on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts. It was his first win of the year. He already had two saves in three other relief appearances.
Irvine Valley took control of the game early with two runs in the bottom of the first inning and then two more in the bottom of the second to go up, 4-0.
Angus hit an RBI double as part of the first inning for the Lasers. In the bottom of the second inning, freshman third baseman David Rojas drove in a run with a groundout and then freshman center fielder Ben McConnell hit an RBI single to right field.
IVC put the game away with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 7-1 advantage.
McConnell hit another run-scoring single and sophomore right fielder Grant Rockefeller also had an RBI single in the fourth.
IVC scored two more runs in the fifth inning on RBI hits by sophomore left fielder Wyatt McGinnis and Rojas and picked up another run in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI single by sophomore designated hitter Zack Stack to take a 10-1 lead.
And the Lasers capped their scoring in the bottom of the eighth with three more runs. The highlight of the inning was a two-run home run by Angus over the left field fence.
Angus went 2 for 4 with three RBI for IVC. McConnell was 4 for 5 with three runs scored and two RBI, sophomore second baseman Colin Conroy was 3 for 4 with three runs and one RBI, McGinnis went 2 for 3 with two runs and one RBI and Rojas was 1 for 4 with two RBI for the Lasers.
Sophomore Eric Brunst pitched a perfect 1.1 innings in relief of Cisneros and then freshman Paul Colignon got the final two outs in the top of the ninth inning.
Doug Hall took the loss for San Diego Mesa. He went 3.2 innings, giving up seven runs (six earned) on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts.
Irvine Valley improved its record to 7-4 overall. The Lasers will travel to Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria on Friday and play the Bulldogs in games on Friday and Saturday.
