Irvine Valley's baseball team got another strong start from sophomore ace pitcher Justin Zielinski, but it wasn't enough in a 2-1 Orange Empire Conference loss to Golden West on Thursday at home.
The defeat was IVC's second straight to Golden West and dropped the team's record to 16-14 overall and 6-9 in conference.
IVC slipped into a tie for sixth place in the conference standings.
Golden West moved into third place in the standings. Its record moved to 17-13 overall and 9-6 in conference.
Zielinski threw his sixth complete game of the season, but was charged with the loss and fell to 6-2 overall.
The right-handed Zielinski gave up two runs (one earned) on seven hits and one walk with two strikeouts.
A.J. Dean (5-3) earned the win on the mound for Golden West, going 7.2 innings and allowing one run on nine hits with seven strikeouts.
Josh Gogue picked up his fifth save by pitching the final 1.1 innings. He allowed just one hit and struck out three of the four batters he faced.
Golden West scored a run in the top of the first to take the lead on two hits, an IVC error and hit batter.
With the bases loaded, Gianni Castillo was hit by a pitch to bring in a run.
Irvine Valley tied the game in the bottom of the second on a two-out, RBI single by freshman shortstop Jordan Gillerman. His hit brought in sophomore left fielder Brett Hamilton, who singled to lead off the inning.
Golden West scored the only other run in the game in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single by Chris Williams.
Williams and Tyler Depreta each went 2 for 4 on the day for the Rustlers.
IVC finished with 10 hits in the contest, led by Hamilton, who was 3 for 4. Gillerman was 2 for 3 and sophomore third baseman Adam Vargas went 2 for 4 for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley plays again on Saturday at noon in a conference game at Orange Coast.
IVC will then host the Pirates next Tuesday at 2 p.m.
