A long drive turned into a disappointing day for SBCC’s baseball team on Tuesday as the Vaqueros were swept by Cerro Coso 2-1 and 11-9. Santa Barbara, which drove nearly five hours one way to Ridgecrest, lost both games on walk-off hits.
“It was a painful day,” said coach Teddy Warrecker. “We didn’t do enough to win. We hurt ourselves defensively, with nine of their 13 runs unearned.”
The Vaqueros (10-3) had their eight-game winning streak snapped in the seven-inning opener. Cerro Coso has handed Santa Barbara all three of its losses.
Jeremy Baum helped SBCC tie the first game at 1-1 with a two-out RBI single in the sixth. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Jeremy Peterson hit Franklin Romero with a pitch. Then Peterson’s pick-off attempt went into the right-field corner, allowing Romero to score the winning run.
Corey Krupp went 2-for-3 while starter Chad Caraccioli allowed just three hits and an unearned run in five innings.
The twinbill was playing in 45-degree weather with scattered showers.
In the nightcap, the Vaqueros led 3-0 and 6-2 before the Coyotes rallied to take a 7-6 lead on a 3-run homer by Romero in the fourth. Catcher Steven Keller tied it at 7 with an RBI single in the sixth that scored Jeremy Howard.
After Cerro Coso went ahead 9-7, SBCC tied the game in the ninth on a single by Aaron Bauman, a double by Jeremy Baum and a two-run single by Andrew Leighty.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Greg Pellici gave up an infield single and a two-run, walk-off homer to Josh Gust.
Baum went 4-5 in the second game with two doubles and two RBIs while Leighty was 2-4 with three RBIs and Tony Cooper was 2-5 with two runs scored.
“We’re still trying to find our best combo,” said Warrecker. “Zack Chavez (who had missed a few weeks with an injury) was the DH today and Corey Krupp played the outfield for the first time (he had been the DH while recovering from an arm injury).”
Wednesday’s home game against Long Beach has been postponed. The Vaqueros will travel to Pasadena on Saturday before playing a doubleheader at Long Beach on Saturday.
First Game (7 inn.)
SBCC …………………. 000 001 0 — 1 5 2
Cerro Coso ………… 000 010 1 — 2 4 1
Caraccioli, Peterson (6) and Keller; Travers and Orr. W–Travers. L–Peterson (0-1).
2B–SB: Krupp. CC: Romero.
Second Game
SBCC ………………… 303 001 002 — 9 13 3
Cerro Coso ……….. 021 400 202 — 11 12 2
Edgington, Martony (4), Gardner (7), Pellici (7) and Keller; Salas, Johnson (4) and Gust. W–Johnson. L–Pellici (0-1).
2B–SB: Cooper, Baum 2. CC: Keplinger. 3B–CC: Romero. HR–CC: Romero. 4th inn., two on; Gust, 9th inn., one on.
