WALNUT – The SBCC baseball team continued to have problems putting up runs against Mt. SAC, falling in both games on the road, 5-1 on Thursday and 5-4 on Saturday.
The Vaqueros are now 12-7 on the year, while the Mounties improve to 8-11.
Mt. SAC 5, SBCC 1
Both center fielder Carson Cahoy and third baseman Daniel Ghiorso put up two hits for SBCC in Thursday's game, but for the second straight game against the Mounties, SBCC wasn't able to string enough hits together.
Mt. SAC got out to a fast start with two runs in the bottom of the first. Three more hits added another three runs in the third, giving the home side a commanding 5-0 lead.
The Vaqueros got on the board in the fourth inning with what would be their only run of the day. Ghiorso led off with a single and first baseman Presley Kosciusko earned a walk. After two straight outs, Cahoy walked, putting Vaquero runners on every base. Right fielder Zach Torres then earned a walk of his own, giving him an RBI as Ghiorso put SBCC on the board.
Santa Barbara put itself in a great position to further cut into the lead in both the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, singles from left fielder Patrick Walsh and Cahoy were followed by Torres getting hit by a pitch, loading the bases once more. However, a strikeout and fly out ensued on the next two at bats, leaving all three runners on base.
A Ghiorso single and walks for shortstop Sebastian Arguelles and Ethan Watson loaded the bases again in the seventh, but the Mounties made it out unscathed with another big strikeout. SBCC was held without a hit the rest of the way.
Mt. SAC 5, SBCC 4
In the third and final meeting of the year between the two teams on Saturday, SBCC would come back late in a game that went down to the wire.
Mt. SAC scored the first two runs before SBCC cut the lead in half in the fifth. Second baseman Daniel Hirose doubled and made it a 2-1 game off a Ghiorso single. The Mounties responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth and another in the sixth to go up 5-1.
The Vaqueros fought back late. They hung in it in the eighth to score without a hit, taking three walks and an error as catcher Tyler Imbach notched an RBI to bring in Walsh.
Still trailing by three runs in the top of the ninth, they put together their best inning of the day. Ghiorso walked and scored soon after on a clutch triple by Arguelles. Arguelles made it a one-run game on a single by center fielder Shane Lamas.
Watson got on base with a walk and SBCC found itself with three runners yet again, but a final strikeout ended the Vaqueros' comeback hopes. The Vaqueros outhit Mt. SAC 7-6, Hirose leading the way with two.
NEXT UP
Santa Barbara resumes conference action this Thursday at Ventura in the first of three games in three days against the Pirates. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m.
