By Jimmy Friery
SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Santa Barbara City College Baseball team beat Pierce handedly on Wednesday, 8-1. With the win, the Vaqueros improve to 9-3 in conference play, jumping Hancock for 2nd in the standings.
Jake Villar got the start on the mound for SBCC, coming into the game with a 1.26 ERA in his previous 3 starts. He would continue that trend on Wednesday.
After a working around a walk and single, he exited the top of the 1st scoreless. The Vaqs offense made sure the bottom half did not end scoreless, plating 5 runs and all but ending the game after 1 inning.
Daniel Ghiorso led off with a single, as did Parker Hellekson. Presley Kosciusko followed suit, singling home Ghiorso. Sebastian Arguelles drove in Hellekson on a ground ball to short and reached first thanks to an error. Patrick Walsh singled, too, and Vince Gamberdella drove home Kosciusko on a groundout. Jordan Harris then drove in his 14th and 15th RBIs of the season on a 2-out single—5-0 Vaqueros.
In the 3rd, Pierce would end the shutout thanks to a trio of singles. That would be all they could muster the remainder of the game.
Vince Gamberdella would add to the Vaqueros lead, making it 6-1 in the 5th after a sacrifice fly.
An error would prevent Villar from finishing 7 innings, but his final line was another gem: 6.2 innings, 6 hits, 3 walks, 1 run, and 8 strikeouts. His record now sits at a perfect 6-0, and his 2.58 ERA is good for 2nd of all qualified conference pitchers (Bradley Johnson is 3rd with a 2.79).
Arguelles scored in the 7th on a wild pitch, and Walsh earned an RBI on a bases loaded walk to score Scott Rapposelli.
Koehn Thomas pitched the final 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just 1 hit. He and Villar combined for the masterful 9-inning, 10-strikeout performance.
Ghiorso's 4-for-5 day increased his average to a blistering .364, 2nd among all qualified hitters in the conference.
The Vaqueros play at Pierce on Thursday before the teams return to Pershing Park for round 3 on Saturday at 1:00 PM.