The Irvine Valley baseball team fell, 15-1, to Cypress in the second game of a three-game Orange Empire Conference series on Thursday at Cypress.
Cypress improved its record to 20-9 overall and 8-6 in conference, while IVC fell to 13-16 overall and 4-10 in conference.
Henry Martinez (4-3) earned the win for Cypress, allowing only three hits while collecting eight strikeouts in seven shutout innings.
Freshman Jason McLellan (1-2) took the loss for Irvine Valley after allowing four hits, three walks, and one run in three innings.
Cypress scored a run in the first, three in the sixth, four in the seventh and seven runs in the eighth inning.
Paul Gomez drove in a run with a single to right field in the bottom of the sixth. With Derek Reilly (2 for 5) at the plate, the Chargers executed a double steal, advancing Gomez to second and John Zanze (1 for 3) to third. Reilly scored Gomez and Zanze with a hard hit single to left field, giving the Chargers a 4-0 lead to end the sixth.
Cypress picked up where it left off in the bottom of the seventh, adding four runs. Aguilar and Nate Rodriguez (3 for 4) drilled back-to-back RBI singles.
Irvine Valley sophomore pitcher Ryan Abady then threw a wild pitch, allowing Aguilar to score from third and Rodriguez to advance to second base. Gomez followed that up with an RBI single to give the Chargers a commanding 8-0 lead.
The Chargers finished off the game with a seven run rally, highlighted by a three-run homer from John Santospago in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Lasers posted one run in the bottom of the ninth with an RBI single from Weston Ellis, who went 2 for 4 on the day.
Willie Aguilar went 3 for 3 with three runs, an RBI and a walk for Cypress. Gomez finished 2 for 3 with two runs, three RBI and a walk.
The third and deciding game of the series will be played this Saturday at Irvine Valley at 12 p.m.
