Nicolas Bereaud went 3-3 with three RBIs on Tuesday as SBCC downed Moorpark 6-2 for its first WSC North baseball win at Pershing Park.
The 6-3 sophomore from San Diego had an RBI single in the sixth and a two-run triple in the eight. Both hits came with two outs.
"It was only my second start playing the field (he played first base instead of designated hitter) which was nice," said Bereaud. "It was also nice to see our pitchers get out of some tough innings. Give credit to the guys hitting in front of me to let me get some opportunities."
Beraud leads the team in batting at .414 and he's No. 4 in the state with 15 RBIs in 10 games. He's hitting .625 in his last five games (10-16) with 13 RBIs.
The Vaqueros improved to 4-6 overall and 1-1 in conference, despite getting just five hits. Dalton Duarte, a 6-6, 270-pound first baseman, had an RBI double in the second and a solo homer in the fourth for the Raiders (3-7, 1-1).
"It was a good team effort, we did a better job of winning the strike-throwing contest," said coach Jeff Walker. "Ian Clark got us going in the first five innings, then we gave the ball to Austin Blessing and Caleb Duhay and they got the job done.
"Four innings of zeroes in relief is pretty big. And we got some clutch hitting."
Clark (2-2) tossed the first five innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Blessing pitched one-hit ball for two innings and Duhay did the same in the eighth and ninth to earn his first save.
Moorpark loaded the bases with one out in the seventh but Blessing got out of the jam by getting Daniel Cipriano to look at strike three and Austin Fields on a groundout to second.
The Vaqueros took a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Morgan Lomax walked, stole second and went to third when the catcher's throw bounced into center field. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael Montpas.
"That sac fly by Montpas was probably the shortest sac fly I've ever seen and Morgan made the play with his speed," said Walker.
SBCC boosted the lead to 4-2 in the sixth when Connor Clark walked and stole second, then scored on Bereaud's single through the right side. The Raiders made an unsual move in the eighth. With Chris Smutny on third and two outs, Michael Deleon intentionally walked Clark to get to the red-hot Bereaud, who delivered his two-run triple to left-center.
"I was very surprised to see them walk Clark with two outs but I was excited to try to get my guys in," said Bereaud. "I was hoping to get at least one insurance run. He left one right over the middle of the plate, so I just tried to go up the middle with it and it got by the center fielder."
The Vaqueros will host Oxnard on Thursday at 2 p.m., then travel to Oxnard on Saturday for a 1 p.m. game. The Vaqueros and Condors tied for the WSC North title last year at 17-7.
