Irvine Valley's baseball team played one of its best game in the Orange Empire Conference, but fell at Riverside, 2-1, in extra innings on Thursday afternoon.
Riverside won the first two games and clinched the series.
The Tigers, ranked No. 10 in the state, improved its overall record to 18-5 on the year and took over the top spot in the conference standings at 5-0.
The Lasers dropped to 13-9 on the year and 0-5 in the OEC.
Irvine Valley took the lead in the top of the third inning with a double steal. Freshman first baseman Jacob Ceja raced to second as freshman designated hitter Mason Gerhardt dashed to home plate.
The play put IVC ahead, 1-0.
RCC tied the game up in the bottom of the fifth inning. Luis Sosa scored on a run-scoring hit by Josh Chairez with two hits.
Still tied after nine innings, the Tigers grabbed the walk-off win in the bottom of the 10th, once again on a two-out rally.
With Sosa back on second, Gray stepped up to the plate and found a gap on the left side to send Sosa in for the game-winning run.
Irvine Valley was led at the plate by sophomore center fielder Brandon Abernathy, who had two hits and a walk, and sophomore left-handed starting pitcher Jackson Chastain, who went six innings and allowed just one run on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts.
Freshman righty Nathan Gentz pitched well, but took the loss. He went 3.2 innings and gave up one run on five hits and one walk with two strikeouts.
RCC finished with 10 hits in the game, led by Grant Gray, who went 3 for 5 with one RBI. Bubba Heidler and Sosa each had two hits for the Tigers.
Ryan Jenkins (6) and Charlie Ruggles (3) combined for nine strikeouts in the game for Riverside with Ruggles picking up the win.
RCC and IVC close out the series back in Irvine on Friday at 1 p.m.
