SBCC broke out of its offensive slump with three homers on Thursday but it wasn’t enough as Cuesta pushed across a run in the bottom of the ninth to post a 7-6 WSC baseball win in San Luis Obispo.
Zack Chavez hit two round-trippers for the Vaqueros (12-14, 1-9), including a shot to dead center on the first pitch of the game. He also had a solo homer in the fifth (his fourth of the year). Corey Krupp drilled the third homer for SBCC, another solo shot in the seventh. Chavez went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and Krupp had two hits.
“Today was the first time in two weeks we played a competitive game,” said coach Teddy Warrecker. “We finally showed some offensive life.”
The Vaqueros fell behind 6-1 after four innings to the first-place Cougars (15-10, 8-2), who got a grand slam from Manny Reyes in the fourth. They scored single runs in each of the last five innings but it wasn’t enough to prevent their eighth straight loss.
Ryan Gardner pitched well in the first start of his career and SBCC’s Zack Edgington tossed 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Santa Barbara tied the contest 6-6 in the ninth on a bases-loaded walk by Sean Costella. Ryan Aguayo led off the Cougar ninth with a double and went to third on a sacrifice bunt. Jacob Domingos hit a hard grounder to third and Tony Cooper knocked it down but couldn’t make a throw to the plate.
“Despite giving up six runs, Ryan Gardner showed flashes of brilliance with six strikeouts,” said Warrecker. “Even though we lost, this was a huge step forward for us.”
SBCC returns home Saturday to take on Oxnard at 1 p.m.
SBCC …………. 100 011 111 — 6 10 2
Cuesta ……….. 101 400 001 — 7 8 1
Gardner, Edgington (4), Peterson (8) and Howard; Parsons, Mirowski (6), Moe (8) and Reyes. W–Moe. L–Peterson.
2B–C: Aguayo, Steele. HR–SB: Chavez (3), 1st inn., none on; Chavez (4), 5th inn., none on; Krupp (3), 7th inn., none on. C: Reyes, 4th inn., three on.
Records–SB 12-14, 1-9. C 15-10, 8-2.
