“I don’t know if we put pressure on ourselves in that first conference game, but we definitely need to play solid,” said Head Coach, Nick Viscardo about Tuesday’s loss.

After two innings the score remained 0-0. At the top of the third inning, the game quickly heated up when sophomore outfielder Joey Parente defensively caught a far ball leading to the first of three quick outs for the Hornets.

In the bottom of the third inning, The Hornets began the inning with an easy out on first base, but things shifted for the team when sophomore infielder Daniel Tuerffs got on base due to an error.

As the Hornets batted in the inning, Parente hit a single which advanced Tuerffs to second base, and freshman outfielder Thomas Delgadillo capped the inning with a two run double run batted in (RBI) leading the game to 2-0.

“Emotions were really high, but you can’t really let that get to you, you just have to flush it out and contain yourself,” said sophomore starting pitcher Chris Sanchez.

The game intensified when sophomore outfielder John Zanze hit a one run single RBI which led Delgadillo home advancing the score to 3-0. The Hornets continued to add more hits on the scoreboard when freshman outfielder, Chase Kerr hit a double which led to Zanze advancing to third base.

The Hornets shifted back getting their second out due to a pop fly, but that didn’t hold the team back from adding more runs to the scoreboard.

Freshman second baseman, Ryan Aguirre comes in and hits a single and finds himself safe on base due to an error by the Lasers, allowing Zanze to add in another run for the team making the score 4-0. Todd Yost sophomore infielder drove one run RBI single to further advance the score to 5-0.

The bottom of the third inning ended when sophomore centerfielder Ben Robinson hit a ball straight to centerfield and was caught by the Lasers centerfielder.

By the top of the seventh inning Sanchez gave up a home run that led the Lasers to score 6-2.

“Going into the game, we had a strategy which was to perform better than we did in Irvine, we had a hard time with the breaking ball and curve ball,” said Viscardo.

“The strong offense we had today definitely helps, it takes a lot of pressure off me. I could just go up there and throw without worrying about anything,” said Sanchez. He pitched seven and a quarter innings.

With the Hornets up by seven runs going into the bottom of the eighth, Parente was led to an out. Also in the bottom of the eighth, a ground rule double was hit over the left field wall by right handed infielder, Jake Anderson.

Viscardo explained how the team took Tuesday’s loss and molded it into Thursday’s win, “Yesterday we spent the whole day working hard, because we knew they were going to curveball us to death.”

In the top of the ninth, Laser’s freshman right handed batter Cameron Fleige hit a line drive out to left field. Also in the ninth, Irvine’s sophomore infielder Nash Hathaway, hit a single into center field ending the game 12-4.

“Our hitting coach works with all of us a lot, and gives us good feedback and tips. He also tells us to trust ourselves and just play the game like we know how to,” explained Kerr about what the team did to grow from Tuesday’s loss.

Irvine Valley’s head coach, Kent Madole was filled with frustration and was short about his team’s plans to turn the Laser’s Thursday’s loss into a win on Saturday.

Catch the Hornets play the Lasers for the third time on Saturday at Irvine Valley College at 12 p.m.