Sophomore Steven Ledesma turned in his third straight solid pitching performance on Thursday, striking out a career-high 11 in SBCC's 5-2 baseball win over L.A. Pierce in Woodland Hills.
Ledesma, a 6-4 right-hander from Ventura, held the Brahmas (5-13, 2-7) to two runs on five hits in eight innings. He struck out 11 and walked one. Ledesma (3-1) has won his last three starts, allowing just three runs over 25 innings with 26 strikeouts.
Austin Blessing tossed a scoreless ninth for his first save.
The Vaqueros (7-9, 4-3) moved into a second-place tie with Oxnard in the crowded WSC North race. Ventura leads at 5-2 and just two games separate the top six teams.
Santa Barbara scored two in the seventh and another in the eighth to take a 4-0 lead. Andrew Cosgrove led the offense with two doubles and an RBI. Nicolas Bereaud collected two RBIs with a bases-loaded walk in the seventh and an RBI double in the ninth.
Bereaud is fifth in the state with 22 runs batted in.
"Another great outing by Stevie, that's three in a row for him," said coach Jeff Walker. "We held serve on the road, now we have to do the same at home."
The Vaqueros will host Pierce on Saturday in a 1 p.m. contest at Pershing Park.
Santa Barbara …… 000 010 211 – 5 10 0
L.A. Pierce ………... 000 000 02x – 2 6 1
Ledesma, Blessing (9) and Cosgrove; Welk, Rodriguez (5), Dergazarian (8), Razo (9) and Yeager. W--Ledesma 3-1. L--Welk 0-1. Save--Blessing 1.
2B–SB: Gagain, Cosgrove 2, Bereaud, Allman.