East Los Angeles snapped a 1-1 tie with six runs in the eighth inning on Friday and went on to beat SBCC 7-1 in a nonconference baseball game at Pershing Park.
Four Husky pitchers held the Vaqueros (6-9) to five hits. Davis Messer turned in a strong five innings for Santa Barbara, allowing just one run on four hits. He struck out six and walked none.
"One run won't win many games," said SBCC coach Jeff Walker. "We hit the ball OK, we just didn't get enough timely hits or string together enough hits. We just have to be patient with it and figure out how to touch home plate more than one time.
"Davis gave up one in the first, then settled down nicely. He gave the ball to Austin Blessing who pitched well (no runs, no hits in 2 innings) and then Caleb Duhay had his first hiccup of the year. That led to a sideways inning in the eighth."
The Huskies (5-7) took a 1-0 lead after five batters when Kelvin Brito singled to right, went to second on a hit batter and scored on a single up the middle by Seve Romo.
Jake Gagain went 2-4 for the Vaqueros, who were playing their third game in four days. Anthony Bocanegra was 2-4 for East L.A. (5-7), which got seven hits off five hurlers.
The Vaqueros tied it in the sixth when Nicholas Allman got a leadoff walk, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Chris Smutny, took third on an error by the third baseman and scored on a wild pitch.
Duhay relieved Blessing on the mound to start the eighth but had control problems. He walked two of the first three batters and cleanup hitter Travis McFarland doubled them home for a 3-1 lead. After a strikeout for the second out, Duhay walked two more to load the bases.
Brett Gregory was called from the bullpen and Bocanegra singled off his glove to make it 4-1. Pinch-hitter Evan Holmes scored on a wild pitch and the last two runs came in when first baseman Jake Gagain dropped a throw from shortstop Wesley Ghan-Gibson for an error.
"We're off for a couple of days now and we'll regroup," said Walker. "We're halfway through the first round of league and we're 3-3. At this point last year, we were 4-2.
"Our conference is always a fight and a race to the end. The more experience we get, the better off we'll be. "
SBCC returns to WSC North play on Thursday at L.A. Pierce with the first pitch at 2 p.m.