Irvine Valley's baseball team had a big lead early, but could not hold on and lost, 6-5, in 12 innings at Orange Coast on Thursday afternoon in an Orange Empire Conference contest.
The two squads have now split their first two contests and Saturday's game at IVC will decide the series.
Irvine Valley has a record of 16-11 overall and 1-7 in conference play.
The teams play at noon on Saturday at Irvine Valley.
OCC battled back for the 6-5 victory at John Altobelli Park.
In the bottom of the 12th inning, Andrew Chorbagian reached first on a one-out walk and after an out that moved the runner to second base, Tyler Covington was intentionally walked.
Zach Boynton drove in Chorbagian with a single up the middle for the win for OCC.
Irvine Valley took a 3-0 lead early in the contest.
After a RBI single by freshman right fielder John Uchytil in the top of the second inning, sophomore first baseman Sam Tucci put the Lasers up up. 3-0, with a two-run home run.
IVC tacked on another run in the top of the fourth to go up, 4-0, with a run-scoring single by freshman second baseman Adrian Covarrubias
The Pirates then found some answers at the plate.
Alan Choo came through with an RBI-single in the bottom of the sixth to start OCC's comeback.
After a Covington hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, Boynton hit a two-run double to right-center to bring Coast to within a run at 4-3.
Boyton finished the game going 4-for-7 with a run scored and three RBI.
A sacrifice fly by Jake Wood tied things at 4-4 and a RBI-single by Kael Corridan capped off OCC's five-run bottom of the sixth putting the Pirates up, 5-4.
Then, a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch by the Lasers tied the game up at 5-5 and from there, it became a battle of the bullpens.
OCC closer Cristian Mares pitched 3.1 innings of scoreless, walking one and striking out two.
IVC freshman left-hander Luke Acuna (2-2) fought with 4.1 innings of quality relief work before taking the hard-luck loss in the 12th.
He allowed one run on just two hits with four walks and five strikeouts.
Landon Veirs pitched a scoreless top of the 12th inning for the Pirates to pick up the win and improve his record to 1-1.
Sophomore third baseman Lucus Scott went 5 for 6 with three runs scored to lead the Lasers.
Liam Stuppy had a 2 for 4 effort at the plate with a run scored for OCC.
Each starting pitcher thew well.
For the Lasers, sophomore left-hander Jackson Chastain allowed three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts over 5.1 innings in the start, while OCC's Jake Martinez gave up four runs on eight hits over six innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
