Davis Messer tossed a five-hit shutout on Thursday and Tyler Rosen and Nicholas Allman drilled two-run homers to lead SBCC to an 11-0 rout of Hancock in a WSC North baseball game in Santa Maria.
Rosen's first homer of the year gave the Vaqueros a 3-0 lead in the second and Chris Smutny singled and went to second, third and home on wild pitches. Smutny went 4-5 with three runs and now leads the team in batting at .305.
The Vaqueros (19-16, 16-7) extended their season-best win streak to five and stayed one game behind Cuesta (17-6). The Cougars clinched a share of the WSC North title by beating LA Pierce 13-1.
The Vaqueros have already secured their sixth straight trip to the Southern Cal Regional and need one more win to reach the 20-win plateau for the 10th straight year. They've outscored their last five opponents 40-12.
With two out in the fifth, Andrew Cosgrove was hit by a pitch and Allman followed with his second homer of the year, stretching the lead to 6-0.
Messer (4-6), a sophomore right-hander from Sunnyvale, Calif., struck out three and walked two in his second five-hit shutout of the season. The defense turned three double plays in the first four innings and didn't commit an error. A trio of Hancock pitchers gave up 11 runs on 12 hits while walking six and hitting three batters.
"Davis came out aggressive and won the strike-throwing contest," said SBCC coach Jeff Walker. "We played well in all three phases today. On offense, we saw the ball well early, got into good counts and took advantage."
Designated hitter Nicolas Bereaud went 2-3 with a double and two RBIs and Connor Clark delivered a two-run double in the eighth.
The Vaqueros will host Hancock in their regular-season finale on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
