The Irvine Valley baseball team did it again.
The Lasers stayed hot, winning their fifth straight game on Tuesday at the OC Great Park Stadium.
Irvine Valley defeated Santa Ana for the second time in a row, earning a 5-2 victory to improve its record to 8-9-1 overall and 7-7 in conference.
The victory lifted IVC to fourth place in the OEC.
Irvine Valley has now won eight of its last 10 games.
Santa Ana got on the board first on Thursday, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI single by Nick Lopez.
But it was all Irvine Valley after that. The Lasers answered in the bottom of the frame, getting an infield RBI single by freshman second baseman Eric Burckle.
Irvine Valley took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth on a RBI groundout by freshman catcher Gabe Briones and then took a four-run lead in the sixth with an RBI double by sophomore first baseman Hank Schineller and a two-run single by freshman center fielder Bradley Wilkison.
Sophomore left-hander Nate Madole started on the mound and pitched four effective innings, giving up just one run on one hit and four walks with two strikeouts and then freshman right-handed reliever Austin Chapman did most of the rest.
Chapman pitched 4.1 innings and allowed one run on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Chapman earned his first win of the year.
Santa Ana scored one run in the top of the ninth, but freshman Cruz Barrios was able to record the final two outs to pick up his second straight save against Santa Ana and third on the year.
Wilkison had his second solid game at the plate for the Lasers, finishing with three hits, a walk and two RBI. Sophomore left fielder Dante Faicchio also had two hits for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley plays a doubleheader at Santa Ana on Friday to finish the four-game series with the first game starting at noon.
