Santa Barbara, Ca. As promised, the SBCC Baseball team came out with force on Saturday in game 2 of the best-of-3 post season series against Golden West College. After losing a tough battle 7-6 the day before, the Vaqueros knew they had to bring some force to keep their season alive as they would need to sweep the potential double header to keep playing ball. "After yesterday, our focus was to try to get some runs on the board early," said Head Coach Jeff Walker, referencing the fact the Vaqs didn't score a run until the 5th inning in game 1. "Scoring those two runs early allowed us to relax a little at the plate." After a scoreless first, the Vaqueros got cooking with their classic "small ball' approach with back-to-back singles by freshmen Sebastian Arguelles and Patrick Walsh. After a groundout advanced the runners to 2nd and 3rd, the Rustlers were able to throw Arguelles out at home for the second out of the inning. Needing a hit to continue the inning, up stepped freshman Zach Torres who proceeded to rip a 2-run single into the outfield, staking the Vaqs to a 2-0 lead. "We talk a lot about taking pride in making steady contact, particularly with two outs. Zach was able to do that and give us that early lead," commented Walker.
Golden West was not going to lie down though with a trip to the Super Regionals on the line. The Rustlers answered the Vaqs rally with a run in the bottom of the second and three more in the bottom of the third on a 2-run homer by Dylan Lina, his 9th of the year. Golden West added another run later in the inning and held a 4-2 lead entering the 4th inning. That is really when the Vaqueros got cooking with more timely hitting.
Following their 2-out hitting theme, the Vaqueros plated 3 more runs in the 4th. With two outs and a runner on 2nd, freshman Daniel Ghiorso was able to lace an RBI single up the middle and advance to 2nd on the throw home. Sophomore Daniel Hirose then followed up with an RBI single of his own, also advancing to 2nd on the throw home. After a subsequent single by sophomore Matty Fung, freshman Presley Kosciusko delivered home the third run of the inning with a hit to left field, giving the Vaqs a 5-4 lead.
After a scoreless 5th, the Vaqueros delivered the knockout blow with a 6-run 6th inning, scoring all the runs with only one actual hit (Fung-single). The other runs were all scored in a variety of ways including: a hit-by-pitch RBI (Arguelles), an RBI walk (Walsh), a throwing error run-scored (Carson Cahoy at the plate), and a wild pitch (Cahoy run-scored). "I'll tell you what, we don't always have the prettiest ways to score like mashing bombs, but we always seem to find a way to get it done," said Walker. "I've said it before: this group will never quit. So if we score by HBP, walks, errors, it doesn't matter to us, as long as we touch that plate (pointing to home)." Golden West was able to generate one more run in the 7th inning, making the final score 11-6.
Freshman Pitcher Jake Villar came on in relief and pitched six and a third solid innings, giving up one earned run with six strikeouts against one walk. "Even though we scored 11 runs, without Jake out there holding it down on the mound for those 6 innings, it may have been a different story," added Walker. Cahoy and Torres led the Vaqueros with 2 RBI's each, while Hirose, Fung, Kosciusko, Arguelles, Walsh, and Ghiorso all chipped in one.
With the win, the Vaqueros force a win-or-go-home game 3 at Pershing Park in which the winning team will advance to the Super Regionals at Santa Ana College next weekend, while the losing squad will prepare for their exit meetings. In a season marked with adversity, and in turn, resiliency, the Vaqueros look to extend their season in this pivotal game 3 against Golden West College.
