Tigers Avoid Sweep with 5-2 Win Over Chargers

Rown Wick goes yard in Cypress' first loss of season to Riverside Community College.

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Rowan Wick

Cypress, Calif. - After taking the first two meeting of the year against Riverside College, Cypress College lost the third and final regular season Orange Empire Conference matchup 5-2 at home on Tuesday afternoon.

Cypress starting pitcher Daniel Poncedeleon (2-2) picked up the loss after allowing three runs (all unearned) on four hits in six innings on the hill. Poncedeleon struck out a game-high seven Tigers and walked four.

The Chargers Tiger counterpart, Blake Burrell (4-0) nearly went the distance, but couldn't retire the Chargers in the ninth inning. Burrell would eventually got the victory after allowing two runs (both earned) in 8.1 innings. He struck out five, allowed six hits and walked six. Joe Molina came in to close out the ninth inning for Riverside and earn his second save of the season.

Riverside scored three times in the top of the third to go up 3-0 in the game. In the bottom half of the inning, Cypress got one run back when Parker Starr singled and stole second base to get in scoring position. Starr would come around to score on a base hit by Robert Chavarria that made it a 3-1 contest after three innings in the books.

The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh to stretch their lead to 5-1 over Cypress. Heading into the bottom of the ninth the score stayed that way until Rowan Wick blasted a pinch-hit homerun over the right field wall off of Riverside's Burrell to get the Chargers back to withing three runs at 5-2. Wick's homer got out of the stadium so quickly, it took the fans a couple of second to realize what just happened.

That was it for the scoring as the Tigers were able to hold on for the 5-2 OEC victory over Cypress College.

The Chargers will host Irvine Valley at 2 p.m. on Thursday in the second meeting of the season between the two squads.