Third baseman Chris Smutny went 3-3 with a homer and a double on Thursday, leading SBCC to a 5-3 baseball win at Moorpark.
Smutny, a sophomore from Fresno, belted his first homer of the year in the third to give Santa Barbara a 2-1 lead. The Vaqueros scored single runs in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. Nicholas Allman went 3-4 and delivered an RBI single in the fourth to put the Vaqueros ahead to stay at 4-3.
Andrew Cosgrove went 3-3 and Michael Montpas had two hits for the Vaqueros, who improved to 11-14 and 8-5 in the WSC North, moving within a half-game of first-place Cuesta (8-4). Allman is batting .400 in 13 conference games.
Jake Gagain extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the fifth.
Ian Clark (4-4) pitched the first 5 2/3 innings for the Vaqueros, giving up three runs on seven hits with six strikeouts. Brett Gregory allowed one hit in 1 1/3 innings and Austin Blessing pitched no-hit, no-run ball for the last two frames to earn his second save.
"It was a back-and-forth game and I was proud of our bullpen, only giving up one hit in 3 1/3 innings," said coach Jeff Walker. "We won the strike-throwing contest today.
"Now we have a chance to win the week and win the series with Moorpark."
The Vaqueros, who are 2-1 vs. the Raiders (10-15, 6-7), will try to take the four-game WSC series on Saturday when they host Moorpark at 1 p.m.
