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Despite having only three total hits, Lancers baseball got off to a fast start and held on to win 5-4 over Irvine Valley College on Feb. 21 at Jackie Robinson Memorial Field.

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak, and was highlighted by great defense and pitching from sophomore starter Evan Stransky, who pitched eight strong innings with four strikeouts.

“I felt great going in and the defense really helped me feel better,” said Stransky. “Just knowing that the defense was solid behind me and making all the plays that I needed.”

Head Coach Evan O’Meara was especially proud of the team, which was finally able to have a one-run game go its way.

“In practice this week we had been really hard on the guys about doing the little things it takes to seal the deal,” said Coach O’Meara. “It was just a masterful job from Evan by not getting flustered even when things didn’t go his way.”

The Lancers struck early in the first inning when sophomore right fielder Anthony Martinez singled with two outs, scoring freshman third baseman Bobby Fraijo and freshman catcher Cameron Silva. Then again in the third inning, it was deja vu for Martinez.

With two outs, Martinez singled and drove in sophomore second baseman Tyler Dominguez and Silva, making the score 4-0 in favor of the Lancers. Martinez finished the game with four RBI’s.

“I just went up there and tried to be clutch for my team,” said Martinez, who was very optimistic about the team going forward.

However, Irvine Valley rallied by scoring twice in the sixth inning and two more times in the seventh inning, tying the game up at 4-4. The Lancers offense had gone freezing cold since the third inning, not having a single base runner again until the bottom of the eighth inning.

When Cameron Silva managed to get on first base, freshman outfielder Angelo Robledo came in as a pinch runner for Silva. On a wild pitch by IVC starter Christian Abe, Robledo managed to hustle all the way to third base and slide under the tag.

Sophomore first baseman David Halstead then smacked a sacrifice fly to deep center field, which easily scored Robledo for what would be the winning run.

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