Irvine Valley's baseball team had its regular season end with a 4-0 Orange Empire Conference loss at Riverside on Friday.
It was a must-win game for both teams in the standings.
Andrew O'Brien threw eight innings of shut-out ball to lead Riverside.
Winning the final two games of the three-game series (in which all three games a shut-out was recorded), Riverside (21-15 overall, 9-12 OEC) enhanced its chances of receiving a berth this weekend in the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Southern California Regional playoffs which begin on Tuesday, May 3 (with play-in games).
Irvine Valley's record slipped to 17-19 overall and 8-13 in conference.
The Lasers ended up in seventh place in the conference - a game behind both Riverside and Orange Coast for fifth.
O'Brien, a sophomore starting right-hander from Corona, scattered three hits and walked one while striking out three to lower his earned run average to 2.25. His record improved to 5-4.
IVC starting sophomore righty Jason McLellan went three innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks with one strikeout as his record fell to 1-4.
Riverside posted two runs in bottom of the first inning and added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth for the final 4-0 count.
In the first, Ryan Mota had a RBI single to right field to drive in Casey Sheehan for a 1-0 RCC lead. A fielder's choice drove in another run for a 2-0 RCC lead.
In the eighth, Michael Darr led off with a walk and scored on a RBI single by Dean Miller. In between, Brody Weiss singled to shortstop and scored the game's final run on a sacrifice fly to center field off the bat of Tommie Pincin.
Weiss went 2 for 3 at the plate to pace RCC.
Sophomore shortstop Jordan Gillerman had a single in the fourth and a lead-off double in the seventh and went 2 for 4 for IVC.
Sophomore center fielder Dillon Millar had Irvine Valley's only other hit in the game.
Freshman Brennan Guinet pitched the final five innings in relief for IVC. He gave up two runs on two hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
