BEATING BACK THE TIGERS

The No. 14 FC baseball squad opened game one of the three-game series at home with No. 11 Riverside City College on Tuesday and took out the Tigers 10-5. 

The win lifts Fullerton past Riverside in the Orange Empire Conference standings at 7-3, while the Tigers now sit at 6-4. With the Hornets currently in first place in the OEC, there is a four-way tie for second with RCC, Saddleback, Cypress, and Santa Ana all at 6-4. 

Joel Martinez (3-1) got the start and the win today for Fullerton throwing 6.2 innings with 5 hits against, no earned runs, had 2 walks, and 3 K's. Joe Linehan finished the game off in the ninth with 1 hit against and 1 strikeout. 

FC pushed two across in the first inning. Marco Malerba punched a hard line drive to deep center field giving Dominic Martinez the chance to come home. Jacob Sharp, who had knocked a double to left field, scored on a passed ball. 

Fullerton went up 4-0 in the third inning when Marco Malerba struck again with a single to right field plating Dominic Martinez. Miguel Ortiz then powered a single through the left side allowing Jacob Sharp to easily score from third. 

The Hornets made it 5-0 in the bottom of the fifth thanks to Isaiah Marquez's solo homerun that cleared the left field ivy and Garet Crenshaw's triple to right center that brought in Miguel Ortiz along with Jacob Sharp. 

Riverside got on the board in the seventh inning, scoring two runs on a couple Hornet errors. Julian Alvarez and Casey Murray got on and Sebastian Flores doubled to left field scoring both. 

FC got the two runs back in the bottom of the seventh to go up 10-2. Marco Malerba came in on a wild pitch and Kaipo Haole grounded out to short giving Miguel Ortiz the opportunity to cross home plate. 

In the top of the eighth, the Hornets pulled off a triple-play on a liner to second baseman Dominic Martinez, who threw the runner on first out to Marco Malerba, who threw the runner out on second hitting Jared Banesh square in the glove. 

The Tigers tried to get back in the game in the ninth scoring 3 runs, but a 6-4-3 double play ended it to lock down the FC win. 

Up Next: The Hornets (19-10 overall, 7-3 OEC) head to Riverside City College for game two on Thursday, March 31st at 2:00 pm.