Jacob Bravo belted a three-run homer to cap a five-run fourth inning on Friday and Patrick Caulfield went wild at the plate and on the bases as SBCC routed Glendale 10-4 in the opener of a best-of-3 Southern Cal Regional baseball series at Stengel Field.
The visiting Vaqueros (both teams are the Vaqueros) won their fourth in a row and 11th in 13 games to improve to 24-13. Glendale, the No. 4 seed, outhit No. 13 Santa Barbara 13-8 but still fell to 26-15.
Caulfield, a sophomore left fielder who batted clean-up, went 3-4 with two RBIs, four runs and five stolen bases. He singled in the sixth, stole second, went to third on a groundout and then stole home to boost the lead to 10-1.
SBCC is 18-4 when scoring five or more runs.
Caulfield is third in the state with 30 steals in 36 attempts. He needs five more steals to break Corey Krupp's school record of 34, set in 2009.
SBCC used its "opener" strategy with Dylan Porter pitching the first 1 2/3 innings. Freshman left-hander Jack Aldrich came on in the second with a 3-1 lead, runners on first and third and two outs. He promptly struck out Christian Muro for the third out.
Aldrich (5-3) went seven innings and was outstanding, allowing three runs on eight hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk. He gave up an RBI single to Brandon Lewis with two outs in the ninth. Jake McBride came in with runners on first and second and walked a batter to load the bases. Pinch-hitter Hayden Luff followed with a two-run single, then McBride ended it by getting Alex Mills to fly out to left.
Nicholas Prainito went 1-4 with two RBIs and two of his team's eight stolen bases.
Santa Barbara jumped ahead 3-0 in the first after Glendale starter Gerardo Ramirez walked the first three batters. Leadoff hitter Alex Holets was picked off first. Caulfield drove in the first run with a single and then he and Benjamin Martz pulled off a double steal. Caulfield stole second and when the catcher threw back to the pitcher, Martz broke for home and beat the tag. Prainito added an RBI single for a 3-0 lead.
SBCC made it 4-1 in the third when Boston Hubbard was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
In the fourth, they added two more on an RBI single by Caulfield and a squeeze bunt by Prainito that scored Caulfield. Nicholas Trifiletti walked to put runners on first and second and Bravo delivered a two-out, three-run blast that put the visiting Vaqueros up 9-1.
Game 2 will start at noon on Saturday with SBCC designated as the home team. If Glendale wins Game 2, a third game will follow 30 minutes later.