CONFERENCE OPENER A WALK-OFF SUCCESS

The No. 22 FC baseball team opened Orange Empire Conference play with a 5-4 walk-off victory over No. 15 Golden West College on Tuesday afternoon.

The win gives Fullerton an overall record of 13-7 and is now 1-0 in the OEC, while the GWC loss put the team at 12-6 overall with a 0-1 record in the OEC. There are still two more games to play against the Rustlers that will take place at Golden West College on Thursday and Saturday.

Joel Martinez got the start on the mound for FC throwing 6 innings with 9 hits against, 4 runs, 1 walk, and 5 K's. Angelo Aguilera (2-2) locked down the win tossing 3 hitless innings with no runs against, had 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts.

The Hornets put up the first run in the third inning when Jacob Sharp punched a single through the left side scoring Jared Benash.

Golden West brought two across in the top of the fourth that was triggered by Steven Casa's double to right field scoring Zech Samayoa. Gunnar Magrann grounded out to second base plating Casas.

The Rustlers went up 4-1 in the fifth on Jonah Sebring'a double to left center scoring Mylan Jones. Samayoa struck again hitting a single to right that gave Sebring a chance to come home.

Fullerton cut its deficit in half scoring a run in the bottom fifth when RJ Vanderhook stole third and took advantage of an overthrown ball to come home.

The score remained 4-2 until the bottom of the ninth when Jared Benash got the Hornet offense on track with a leadoff single to right center field. RJ Vanderhook came up and worked the count for a walk. A wild pitch allowed both baserunners to move to second and third with one out. Jacob Sharp entered the batter's box and soon left it with a welt on his torso after getting hit by a pitch. Now with the bases loaded, Marco Malerba smacked a hard single up the middle scoring Vanderhook and Benash tying the game up 4-4. The next batter, Miguel Ortiz came up and blasted the first pitch to deep left center scoring Sharp, who cruised in from third base for the win. 

Up Next: The Hornets (13-7 overall, 1-0 OEC) will play game two of the three-game series at Golden West on Thursday, March 10th. The first pitch goes out at 2:00 pm.