Bullpen offers no relief

   The last thing pitcher Sean Slettvet thought of the morning of April 13 was giving up the go-ahead run by comitting a cardinal pitching mistake.

   His relief appearance in the latter innings of a tied game saw him do just that.

   In baseball, a pitcher abides by a restricted set of motions before and during a pitch. When these are violated, with one or more runners on base, a balk is called advancing the runners one base.

   As a result of his blunder, Santa Ana's eight-game Orange Empire Conference winning streak ended with an 11-6 loss to visiting Golden West College.

   With the game tied 4-4 in the top of the eighth inning, Slettvet appeared in relief of starting pitcher R.J. Hively. He came on with no outs and runners on first and second base.

   After being hit by a pitch, left fielder Alec Rosales reached to load the bases for Golden West.

   During the following at bat, Slettvet was called for a balk, allowing the go-ahead run to score for Golden West. The freshman pitcher found his team down two runs after a wild pitch allowed another run to cross home plate.

   Rustlers catcher Clayton Pestridge capitalized on Slettvet's control issues smashing a two-run home run to left field, giving the Rustlers an 8-4 lead.

   In the inning, Dons' pitchers hit four batters, essentially costing them the game.

   "We gave them the game today," Head Coach Don Sneddon said.

  "[We] didn't do the job, that's been our problem all season," Sneddon said about the struggling Santa Ana bullpen. "When you hit four guys in one inning it's going to cost you tremendously and it did."

   Golden West continued to benefit from Dons' faulty pitching in the ninth, scoring three more runs on four hits sealing the game for the Rustlers and putting them two games behind the first place Dons in the OEC.

    Trailing 3-1, Golden West's offense came alive in the sixth inning. Sparked by left fielder Billy Silvestri's RBI double, they scored three runs, all with two outs, to take a 4-3 lead.

   "I was a little tired, but I kind of got away from what I was doing early in the game and they put the bat on the ball," Hively said.

   Hively was pulled in the eighth after giving up six runs on eight hits. He had six strikeouts, three walks and two hit batters, which turned the game for SAC.

   Three pitchers out of Santa Ana's bullpen pitched the eighth and ninth inning. They allowed five earned runs on five hits.

   "Bullpen didn't do their job, our offense didn't do their job, and I didn't do my job," Hively said.

   Rosales, Pestridge and Silvestri finished with a combined six hits, six RBIs and six runs scored for the Rustlers.

   Golden West starting pitcher pitched five strong innings giving up three earned runs on four hits. Michael Syrett closed out the game with two innings of shutout baseball.

   Dons' third baseman, Julian Duran, continued his dominance at the plate going 2-3 with one RBI and two runs scored. Duran remains Santa Ana's leading hitter with a .435 batting average.

   Sophomore shortstop T.J. Yasuhara finished 1-3 with three RBIs.

   Catcher Danny Recio added two hits and two RBIs.

   The loss drops Santa Ana to 11-3 in the conference, 21-8 overall. Their first place lead is now at one game with Cypress College trailing closely with a 10-4 record, 19-10 overall.

   Santa Ana will host Cypress tomorrow at 2 p.m. in a conference game.