After a tough loss to the Hornets rivals the Cypress Chargers on April 18, the Hornets came back to win in a nail bitter on April 20 at home, 17-8.

Fullerton is (3-14) overall in conference play whereas Cypress is (9-8) overall in the Orange Empire Conference.

After a scoreless first inning, the game heated up when the Chargers right-handed first baseman Garrett Calvert hit a single to right field which led to a run batted in (RBI) and put the Chargers on the board when shortstop Paul Gomez scored making their lead 1-0.

Going into the bottom of the second, the Hornets looked to even up the playing field and did just that when sophomore infielder Todd Yost hit a fly ball to right field and an RBI which led freshman infielder Jake Anderson home, tying the game 1-1.

“All I want the boys to do is to have believability, if they have it, they’re going to have better swings,” said coach Nick Fuscardo about the team’s ability to come back and win after Tuesday’s loss.

Trailing the Hornets, the Chargers quickly responded and loaded up the bases. As freshman catcher Chase Sebby was on third and sophomore outfielder Cory Wildhager reached to second, two batters were walked allowing Sebby home leading the game 1-2.

The inning didn’t come to an end there, with bases still loaded and cheers from the visiting side growing louder, Calvert hit a single two RBI which upped their lead 1-4.

Up to the plate, sophomore infielder Angel Ortiz singled out to centerfield allowing another runner on base to come home 5-1. Adding another base hit RBI by sophomore outfielder Elias Ledesma the inning ended when Chargers took the lead 1-6.

As the sun beamed down, the Hornets were up to bat with an offense ready to respond. The first hit of the inning, Parente found himself on second due to an error. As freshman outfielder Thomas Delgadillo was up to bat the Chargers pitcher looked back to take Parente out but second baseman fails to catch the ball, allowing Parente to advance to third.

Keeping the momentum going, Delgadillo singled allowing Parente home still trailing the Chargers 2-6. As freshman catcher, Tate Brock came up to bat with confidence he bunted and brought home Delgadillo advancing their score 3-6.

“Our catcher Brock did outstanding, it was his best game so far as a Hornet,” said Fuscardo.

Going into the bottom of the fifth the Hornets trailed by 3, looking to even the score Anderson came up to bat and hit a single to right field which led to an RBI leading freshman outfielder, Chase Kerr which advanced sophomore outfielder John Zanze home making the score 4-6.

“We were down 6-2, and he bunted for a hit and made it 6-3 and all of a sudden we were 6-4. Realistically that was a big play for us,” said Fuscardo.

Yost then hit a groundball to second base which led to an RBI, Anderson then advanced to third. The game intensified when Kerr scored lowering the Hornets deficit to 5-6.

Playing off of their momentum, freshman shortstop Andrew Aguilar hit an RBI single to right field which then led Anderson to tie up the game 6-6.

Still, in the fifth, the Hornets looked to take the lead when Parente hit a single RBI which led second baseman Daniel Tuerffs to second and Aguilar home, leading the Hornets to claim the lead for the first time in the game 7-6.

“When they scored, we answered back,” said Fuscardo.

The Hornets still maintained their one-run lead going into the bottom of the sixth when Anderson advanced to second Kerr advanced to third which led Zanze home furthering their lead 8-6.

Still, in the bottom of the sixth, Brock hit a 2 RBI which led Anderson and Kerr home making the score 10-6.

The pressure was on for the Chargers in the top of the seventh. Runners were on first and second awaiting to advance their position, a wild pitch was thrown bringing in a runner home 10-7.

Still trailing the Hornets, Charger were able to bring in one more run but their chance of taking the lead fell short when their batter grounded out to first base 10-8.

The Hornets bats were continuously hot, adding another two runs in the bottom of the seventh 12-8.

The Chargers weren’t able to come back, yet the Hornets managed to swing in a few more hits and bring the boys in for five more runs in the bottom of the eighth. After Tuesday loss, the team came together and brought in an atmosphere of dominance on the field ending the game 17-8.

“It all came together today,” said freshman catcher, Tate Brock,“Overall it was a fun game. Cypress is a good ball club and we put up 17 runs and 24 hits so that’s a pretty good accomplishment.”

Catch the Hornets on Saturday, April 22 against Cypress at 12 p.m. at Cypress.