Blake McFarland turned in SBCC’s best pitching performance of the year on Tuesday — a four-hit shutout at Ventura. He limited the Pirates to four singles in a 10-0 victory and didn’t allow a hit after the third inning.
It was the first shutout and first complete game for the Vaqueros (16-15, 5-10), who are two games out of third place in the WSC North.
“Blake was great and our defense was outstanding,” said coach Teddy Warrecker, whose team has won four of its last five. “We didn’t have an error for the second straight game and there were several spectacular plays by Tony Cooper, Zack Chavez and Sean Costella.”
McFarland, a 6-6 right-hander from San Jose, struck out two, walked three and allowed just seven baserunners while lowering his ERA to 2.72.
The Vaqueros led 6-0 after four innings and scored in seven of their first eight at-bats. Aaron Bauman went 3-for-3 with two RBIs while Corey Krupp was 2-3 with three runs scored. Barrett Ceverha went 2-5 with a pair of RBIs.
“Ever since the Cuesta game (on March 19), we’ve been playing great baseball,” said Warrecker. “When we had that losing streak (eight straight) that lasted 17 days, it felt like 17 years.
“We’re two games out of third and the third-place team (from the WSC North) has gone to the playoffs four straight years. We feel like we’re playing for a lot.”
SBCC will be at home on Thursday against Ventura with the first pitch at 2:30 p.m.
SBCC …………… 211 201 120 — 10 10 0
Ventura ………… 000 000 000 — 0 4 2
McFarland and Howard; Plum, Pinto (3), Javate (5), Duhamel (7), Rudman (9) and Yingling. W–McFarland (5-2). L–Plum.
3B–SB: Krupp, Baum..
Records–SB 16-15, 5-10. V 12-11, 7-8.
