By Jimmy Friery
SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Santa Barbara City College Baseball team completed their sweep of Pierce on Saturday at home in a 10-3 win.
Improving to 11-4 in conference play, SBCC is just a half-game back of 11-3 Cuesta for the top spot in the standings. 9 games remain.
Leading off for the Vaqueros, Daniel Ghiorso reached base for the 4th consecutive game in SBCC's first at bat. After his double, Presley Kosciusko's sacrifice fly brought him home, and Ethan Rodriguez scored on Patrick Walsh's 2-out single.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Parker Hellekson doubled, and Jordan Harris and Ethan Watson each walked to load the bases with nobody out and the top of the order due up. Ghiorso wasted no time, driving home 2 on a single. Watson would later score on a passed ball to make it 5-0 SBCC after just 2 innings.
Next inning, Walsh singled before stealing second and third. Hellekson drove him home via a single to increase the lead to 6.
In the top of the 4th, Bradley Johnson finally got hit a bit, giving up 4 singles and a walk that led to 3 runs. Thankfully, his offense had given him a decent cushion already, and it was still just 6-3.
The Pierce battery continued to have some problems in the bottom of the 4th. Rodriguez was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a passed ball. Kosciusko had a productive out to get him to third, and he would score on a wild pitch—7-3 SBCC.
Continuing to the bottom of the 5th, 3 walks loaded the bases with 1 out for Rodriguez. He singled to the right fielder who booted the ball, allowing all 3 baserunners to score. By the end of the inning, it was 10-3 Vaqs, who had scored in each of the first 5 frames.
That would be all the scoring for both teams. Pierce would only muster 1 baserunner in the final 4 innings via a single to lead off the 9th.
Bradley Johnson threw a quality start, earning the win in his 6 innings, 3 runs performance. He scattered 7 hits and 3 walks, striking out 6 to tie teammate Jake Villar for the conference lead with 52. Johnson is third in the WSC-North in ERA (3.02) behind Villar (2.58) who is in second.
Jordan Rico, Jake Thrift, and Halen Jaden Guerrero followed Johnson, all pitching a scoreless inning apiece. Thrift especially was electric, striking out the side. He has faced 10 batters this season and struck out 8 of them.
Daniel Ghiorso, Patrick Walsh, and Parker Hellekson each had 2 hits. Walsh also stole 3 bags. Ethan Watson had 2 walks and a double. Ghiorso (2) and Ethan Rodriguez (3) both had multiple RBIs.
The 3-game sweep is a good sign for the Vaqueros, who went 2-1 in all of their four previous 3-game series. They had lost the last game of the previous 3 series, preventing a sweep, in either extra innings or walk-off fashion.
Next week, SBCC looks ahead to a 3-game series with Moorpark—Wednesday and Saturday at home with a Thursday away game in between.
