Irvine Valley's baseball team was in control from the start, but the game slipped away late and the Lasers fell to College of the Desert, 8-5, in a nonconference game on Saturday at home.
The loss dropped Irvine Valley's record to 6-5 overall, while the Roadrunners continued their impressive start. COD's record moved to 10-2 overeall.
The Lasers welcomed back sophomore right-hander Ryan Barlow to the mound for a start and he showed out.
Barlow pitched five innings and didn't give up any runs. He allowed five hits and struck out three batters. Barlow left the game with a 5-0 lead.
But the Roadrunners answered over the next several innings.
Desert hit two home runs in the in the top of the seventh inning (two-run homer by Jason Leon and solo shot by Jacob Mejia) to get within 5-4.
And COD tied the game at 5 in the top of the eighth inning on a groundout by Braden Schiffner.
IVC had runners at first and second with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, but couldn't push a run across.
College of the Desert got an RBI single from Will Owens to take a 6-5 advantage.
A run scoring triple by Antonio Crews lifted the Roadrunners' lead to 7-5 and a sacrifice fly later in the inning made it 8-5.
Freshman righty Cole Dietsch took the loss for Irvine Valley.
Kenneth Schechter earned the win for Desert.
For Irvine Valley at the plate, freshman center fielder Shane Stafford went 3 for 5 with a double.
Sophomore shortstop Nick Madole was 2 for 5 with a double and freshman third baseman Kevin James went 2 for 5 with a home run and three RBI.
Irvine Valley is back playing on Tuesday at Tuesday at Chaffey at 2 p.m.
