Valentine’s Day was especially sweet for the SBCC baseball team as starters Joe McGrew and Connor Whalen turned in strong efforts for the Vaqueros, who swept Antelope Valley 6-2 and 10-2 at Pershing Park.
Santa Barbara improved to 10-1, matching the best start (2007) in the nine-year tenure of coach Teddy Warrecker.
Aaron Bauman snapped a 0-0 tie in the opener with a two-out, three-run homer in the sixth inning. He leads the squad with three homers. The play was controversial as left-fielder Cory Rothert sprinted to the temporary fence and tried to grab the ball as he tumbled over the plastic fence and the ball hit the grass.
“My first question was ‘Is that a home run?’ ” said Warracker. “Neither outfielder threw his hands up like it was a (ground-rule) double. It looked like the ball hit his body after he had run through the fence.”
The Vaqueros added three more in the seventh and went on to rout the Marauders in the nightcap for their eighth straight win.
Andrew Leighty scored six runs in the doubleheader, including four in the second game when he had a single, double and triple.
“They were throwing hard, so we took a right-side approach (hitting to right field),” said Leighty, a former SBHS player who became the starting third baseman after shortstop Zack Chavez went down with an injury. “I was a bullpen catcher at the start of the year. I got a couple of teeth knocked out at L.A. Mission when I took a ground ball off the face. I played third base in high school, so it isn’t anything new.”
The Vaqueros stole 10 bases in the nightcap, led by Corey Krupp with three.
McGrew, a 6-6 right-hander from Santa Monica, didn’t allow a run until the eighth inning when the Vaqueros were up 6-0. He tossed 7 1/3 innings, allowing just seven hits with nine strikeouts and two walks. Whalen, a sophomore southpaw, was equally effective in the nightcap, giving up zero runs on five hits over six innings. He struck out seven and only walked one while improving to 3-0.
“I expect that from our pitching staff,” said Warracker. “It’s the kind of staff that guys really have to be on their games to keep getting their innings because there’s so much competition. Seeing Bryce Smith pitch in the 9th inning of the second game of a doubleheader — that’s his first inning of the year and he’s got outstanding stuff.
“That was a tremendous effort by Connor Whalen with only one walk. He really dominated.”
The Vaqueros scored three times in the seventh inning of the opener and took a 6-0 lead on RBIs by Chris LoPiccolo, Sean Costella and Corey Krupp. Zach Coonen finished up for McGrew and struck out four of the seven batters he faced while allowing a solo homer to Justin Elizondo in the eighth.
The Vaqueros built a 6-0 lead after five innings of the second game. Leighty singled and tripled in the second and third, respectively, and scored on a wild pitch and Jeremy Baum’s RBI single. Baum, who was 2-4 wtih two RBIs, followed Leighty’s double in the fifth with a run-scoring double to make it 6-0.
Warracker used 23 players in the second game, including nine pinch-hitters. He was impressed with his defense, which made just three errors in 18 innings.
“After that first week when we kicked the ball from here to San Berdoo, we’ve been great defensively,” he said. “We had three errors in two games today and one was a throwaway to third from the catcher. We’ve turned a double play, I think one per game, for the last five games. That’s a big difference-maker.
“And we’re continuing to get some big hits.”
Warracker and his Vaqueros did a great job of getting the Pershing Park field ready for play. He estimated they removed 200 gallons from left field with buckets.
“We worked really hard to get the field ready,” he said. “On Friday, I told them we were going to play when there was a creek running in front of our dugout and they looked at me funny. We wanted to get on the field, we wanted to get these games in and keep the momentum going.”
The Vaqueros could be facing snow in their next game — a doubleheader scheduled for Tuesday at Cerro Coso in Ridgecrest.
SBCC 6, ANTELOPE VALLEY 2
First Game
Antelope Valley ……. 000 000 020 — 2 9 1
SBCC ……………………. 000 003 30x — 6 5 2
Doremus, Champieux (7), Corlew (7) and Ordaz; McGrew, Coonen (7) and Keller, Gregory (9). W–McGrew (2-1). L–Doremus.
2B–AV: Gulley. SB: Leighty, LoPiccolo. HR–AV: Elizondo, 8th inn., none on. SB: Bauman (3), 6th inn., two on.
SBCC 10, ANTELOPE VALLEY 2
Second Game
Antelope Valley ……. 000 000 020 — 2 7 1
SBCC ……………………. 022 110 31x — 10 12 1
Holguin, Sailer (5), Earwood (7), Nelms (7) and Mann; Whalen, Caraccioli (7), Gardner (8), Smith (9) and Gregory. W–Whalen (3-0). L–Holguin.
2B–AV: Gregory, Gulley. SB: Leighty, Brown. 3B–SB: Leighty, Nakayama.
