Dustin Miller went 4-5 with two RBIs and two stolen bases on Tuesday and Cuesta used a 14-hit attack to edge SBCC 8-6 in a showdown for first place in the WSC North baseball race in San Luis Obispo.
Center fielder Nicholas Allman went 2-3 with a 2-run homer in the second but also committed three of the Vaqueros' seven errors. Connor Clark, Nicolas Bereaud and Wesley Ghan-Gibson all had two hits for Santa Barbara, which fell to 14-15 and 11-6.
Brendan Jenkins (6-4) pitched six solid innings for the Cougars (18-9, 11-4), giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks. Vaquero starter Steven Ledesma (5-3) surrendered six runs on 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings.
The Vaqueros were playing catch-up all day, falling behind 2-0, 4-2 and 8-3 before scoring three in the ninth.
"We couldn't get the timely hitting and didn't take care of the ball on defense," said coach Jeff Walker. "We got the go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth before making the last out on a deep fly to right by Nic Bereaud."
The Vaqueros got four hits in the ninth with an RBI single by Michael Montpas, a run-scoring groundout by Chris Smutny and an RBI single by Jake Gagain that cut it to 8-6. Connor Clark reached on an error, giving the Vaqueros first and second with two outs.
Bereaud, who had an RBI double in the sixth and ranks No. 6 in the state with seven homers, drove a deep fly to right for the last out.
Santa Barbara will host Cuesta on Friday in a rain makeup at 3 p.m.