Mt. SAC Baseball flipped the script on Friday, Feb. 8, when they traveled to face the Orange Coast College Pirates and pulled a victory out of the deep 8-2 hole they found themselves in the fourth inning, ultimately winning 10-8.
The Mounties had been struggling away from home to start off the season, with their only road win coming off the front end of a double-header against the San Diego Mesa College Olympians.
Mt. SAC had dropped the second game against the Olympians and a tough 2-1 loss to the Cypress College Chargers going into their bout with the Pirates.
“We knew Orange Coast is one of the top teams in the state annually, so we wanted to come out here, compete, and see what guys can do,” Mounties’ head coach John Knott said. “It’s still early in the year so we still have tons of roles up for grabs and a lot of situations that we can learn from.”
The Mounties found themselves in a tough situation early on despite being the first to open up the scorecard with Anthony Walters scoring off a single by Michael Sandoval.
Orange Coast answered back with four runs in the bottom of the first and three more in the second inning to put Mt. SAC in a 7-1 deficit.
Walters would score a run again for the Mounties off a double to right-centerfield by Elijah Greene in the third but a bad pitch hitting Orange Coast’s Landon Silver with bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth brought another run in for the Pirates.
After four tough innings, the 8-2 hole the Mounties had dug themselves into seemed insurmountable, but key at-bats from Anthony Walters, Dylan Jones, Quinn Cotter and Chris Sandberg gave Mt. SAC a surge that brought in six runs in the fifth to tie the game at eight runs.
Mt. SAC pitcher Zach Bromstead came in the bottom of fifth, tasked with holding off the Pirates and eager to go since witnessing his Mounties take the two tough losses in the previous games.
“Our offense came out flat and the whole team was flat really, so I don’t know about anybody else, but I was pretty fired up to play after Cypress,” Bromstead said. “I didn’t get to pitch that game or the game before, so whenever I do get the ball in my hands, I try to make the most out of it, pitch as well as I can and make the most out of every opportunity.”
Bromstead did just that, pitching three innings, earning five strike-outs, and even taking a deflected hit to the ankle.
“The first couple of seconds I felt it, but after that the adrenaline just kicked in and I pushed through to finish the inning and the rest is history,” Browstead said after the game.
At the top of the eighth, the Mounties took the lead with Ryon Knowles and Anthony Walters scoring.
“I’m just really proud of the way these guys stayed with it, hung in there, and kind of chipped away,” Knott said. “We had quality at-bat after quality at-bat.”
Jake Turner came in to pitch in the bottom half and Steven Ordorica pitched in the ninth, preserving the 10-8 Mt. SAC victory and completing the stunning comeback.
“We have the pitching, we have guys that can deal with every single game and I believe that we have the offense and a whole staff and a group of dudes that can play ball,” Bromstead said. “We want to be one of the best teams in the state.”
Mt. SAC Baseball will return home on Tuesday, Feb. 13, to take on the 4-3 Santa Ana College Dons, with first pitch at 5 p.m.