Irvine Valley's baseball team rallied from six runs down early to stun LA Valley, 8-7, in a bottom of the ninth, two-out, walk-off win on Friday afternoon.
The Lasers scored two runs in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to come back for the victory.
Down, 7-6, heading into the bottom of the ninth, Irvine Valley tied the score on a RBI sacrifice fly by sophomore shortstop Robert Haw. His fly ball was just deep enough to get freshman second baseman David Dorado home from this base.
And then soon after, freshman pinch-runner Ethan Johannes charged home from third base on a wild pitch by LA Valley reliever Xavier Dubon. Johannes was able to slide in safely and the celebration starter for Irvine Valley.
The win snapped a three-game skid by the Lasers and improved their record to 2-4 overall.
LA Valley fell to 4-4.
LA Valley got off to a great start, scoring five runs in the top of the first inning against Irvine Valley freshman starting pitcher Jacob Bixler.
The Lasers were playing catch up the rest of the way. And LA Valley added a single run in the top of the third inning to go ahead, 6-0.
IVC slowly starting chipping away in the top of the fourth inning. Sophomore catcher Collin Villegas and freshman second baseman David Dorado each had RBI singles to make it a 6-2 game.
And in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Lasers pulled to within 6-4 after sophomore designated hitter Hank Schineller and Dorado each provided run-scoring singles to pull the Lasers within 6-4.
LA Valley went up, 7-4, in the top of the eighth inning on an RBI hit by Elvis Park.
The Lasers got that run back and one more in the bottom of the eighth inning. Freshman outfielder Jack Haggerty hit a run-scoring sacrifice fly and freshman first baseman Casey Kudell knocked in a run with a groundout to get Irvine Valley within 7-6.
And the Lasers kept fighting back in the bottom of ninth inning.
Villegas grounded out to start the inning, but then Dorado singled up the middle and freshman Shane Kary pinch hit and grounded a single through the left side.
Dorado and pinch runner Ethan Johannes each moved up a base on a wild pitch.
Haw tied the score with a sacrifice fly to right field. Dorado was able to slide home around the tag to knot the game at 7.
And shortly after, Johannes raced home with the winning run after a wild pitch by LA Valley reliever Xavier Dubon.
Dubon took the loss, going 0.2 innings and allowing two runs on two hits.
Irvine Valley freshman Joshua Ribera picked up the win, pitching two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and struck out two.
IVC got a solid relief outing from freshman righty Connor Neves. He came on in the first inning and ended up going 6.1 innings. Neves allowed two runs (both unearned) on eight hits with two strikeouts.
Offensively, Irvine Valley was paced by Dorado, who went 4 for 5 with two RBI and Villegas, who was 3 for 5 with one RBI.
Haggerty, Kudell, Haw, and Shineller also knocked in runs for Irvine Valley on the day.
Irvine Valley plays again on Saturday, hosting Long Beach City at noon in the final game of a three-game series that took place throughout this week.
