Originally written for publishing on April 30, 2013.

The Fullerton College baseball team finished off their regular season with a 12-4 victory over Golden West College, to clinch the Orange Empire Conference championship. The Hornets finish the season with an overall record of 25-11, and a conference record of 15-6.

The Hornets got things started things off by scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Dakota Wix led off the game with a triple down the left field line. Erik Lewis then grounded out to shortstop but Wix was able to score.

Troy Mulcahey came up next and also tripled. Jose Rojas then also grounded out to the shortstop to bring in the run and gave the Hornets an early 2-0 lead.

The Rustlers answered in the bottom of the first, and managed to score a run on Jeff Curran. Nicolas Marshall came up with the bases loaded and singled to bring in Thomas Walker.

The Rustlers starting pitcher, Lucas Kaplan, was pulled after the first inning. Isaiah Terrazas came in and got all three guys out in the second inning. The Rustlers added another run in the bottom of the second to tie the game at 2-2.

Kyle Jones walked to lead off the inning for the Rustlers, and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Daniel DeWolf. Frank Califano then singled to tie the game.

Terrazas came back out for the third inning. Wix lead off the inning with a single, and stole second before advancing to third on another single by Lewis. Mulcahey then singled to drive in Wix and move Lewis over to third. Paul Frias then grounded into what appeared to be a potential double play, but he beat the throw to first and picked up the RBI on a fielder’s choice, to give the Hornets a 4-2 lead.

Curran calmed down for the Hornets giving up only two singles over the next three innings. When all was said and done, Curran went five innings, while giving up two earned runs on six hits and three strikeouts.

Terrazas came out again for the fourth inning, but probably should not have. Uriel Salinas walked and Ryan Joyce singled as the first two batters in the inning. Then, Nick Gotta doubled into the gap to score both of the runners. Wix then came up and hit his first home run of the year, to drive in him and Gotta and make the lead 8-2.

Terrazas was pulled after going two plus innings while giving up six runs on six hits while striking out one and walking one. Michael Farris came in and retired the first three batters he faced.

Gotta and Wix struck again in the fifth inning. Gotta singled to drive in Garrett Donohoe and Uriel Salinas and then advanced to second on an error. Wix then drove in Gotta and also took second on an error. Lewis finished off the scoring with another single to drive in Gotta and give the Hornets a 12-2 lead.

Gotta finished the game batting 2-3, with two runs and four RBI. Wix was 4-5 with four runs and three RBI. Lewis also had a huge game, going 3-3, with a run and three RBI.

The Hornets relied on their bullpen for four innings, getting two each out of Sean Michel and Jacob Miller. Michel gave up four hits and two unearned runs, while Miller only allowed one walk.

The Hornets will march onto the postseason and take on either El Camino Compton College or Santa Barbara City College, Saturday at 11 a.m. The Hornets took a top seed in the south and will get to host the game, and have home field all the way through the SoCal Super Regionals.