Irvine Valley's baseball was right there with one of the best teams in the state Thursday afternoon for nine innings.
But the Lasers came out on the losing end, falling to Riverside, 5-4, at home in the first of three games in an Orange Empire Conference series.
Irvine Valley's record went to 9-15 overall and 0-7 in conference, while Riverside, which is the defending state champion, improved to 18-4 overall and 7-0 in conference.
The Lasers gave up a run in the top of the first inning, but scored three in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by sophomore second baseman Nolan Cusey and a two-run single by sophomore shortstop Nick Madole to take the lead.
But Riverside answered right back.
The Tigers took the lead for good in the top of the third inning with three runs. Casey Murray Jr. started the scoring with a solo home run. Riverside then scored two unearned runs to take a 4-3 advantage.
Each team scored a run in the fifth inning, but Irvine Valley was still chasing, down, 5-4.
The Lasers had their chances. They even had runners at first and second with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, but a groundout ended the game.
IVC sophomore right-hander Sammy Murphy took the loss on the mound for IVC. His record slipped to 3-5 overall. Murphy went five innings and gave up five runs, but just two were earned.
Five errors on the day hurt the Lasers.
Murphy walked three and struck out one batter.
Freshman lefty Wyatt Zadoorian had a solid relief appearance for IVC, throwing four scoreless innings. He gave up three hits and struck out two.
At the plate, Nick Madole was 2 for 4 with a walk and two RBI, sophomore first baseman Casey Kudell went 2 for 3 with a walk and one run and sophomore right fielder Noah Madole went 2 for 4. Freshman center fielder Shane Stafford hit his fifth home run of the season.
RCC got six innings from Hayden Coon for the win. He improved to 4-2. And Dakota Gray pitched three scoreless innings for his third save.
Murray Jr. went 2 for 5 with two runs, a double, a home run and one RBI and Sebastian Flores also had two hits for RCC.
The two teams play again on Friday at 2 p.m. at Riverside.
