Cuesta foiled SBCC with another walk-off baseball victory on Friday as Chad Reynolds’ bloop single with two outs in the ninth scored two and lifted the Cougars to a 6-5 win on a rainy day in San Luis Obispo.
The WSC champions beat the Vaqueros in four of five meetings this year, including three walk-off wins. Santa Barbara (24-19, 11-14) had its four-game win streak snapped and will find out on Sunday whether eight wins in the last 11 games were good enough to qualify for one of 18 Southern Cal postseason bids.
“The baseball fortunes didn’t go our way,” said coach Teddy Warrecker, whose team tied for fourth in the WSC North. “Two times today, we had runners in scoring position and lined out to first.”
Corey Krupp’s two-run double in the seventh tied the game at 4 and Sean Costella’s RBI double in the eighth scored Andrew Leighty with the go-ahead run. Krupp went 3-for-5 with two RBIs while Zack Chavez was 2-5 with a pair of RBIs.
Cuesta (29-14, 19-6), ranked No. 4 in Southern Cal, had a runner on first and two outs in the ninth when Joe McGrew walked two to load the bases. On a 3-2 count, Reynolds hit a ball that traveled 120 feet, barely missing the glove of a diving Leighty behind first base.
“For us to even be in the postseason discussion after starting league 1-9 was incredible,” said Warrecker. “It didn’t feel like this was our last game of the season. I’m really proud of the way the guys competed the last three weeks.”
SBCC …………. 020 000 210 — 5 11 0
Cuesta ……….. 002 110 002 — 6 12 0
Edgington, Caraccioli (4), McGrew (6) and Keller; Parsons, Kretchmer (7), Ousman (8) and Muller. W–Ousman. L–McGrew (2-4).
2B–SB: Krupp, Costella. C: Domingos.
Records–SB 24-19, 11-14. C 29-14, 19-6.
WSC NORTH STANDINGS
(Final reg. season, through May 1)
WSC GB Overall
Cuesta 19-6 — 29-14
Hancock 15-10 4 22-20
Ventura 12-13 7 26-16
SBCC 11-14 8 24-19
Moorpark 11-14 8 18-22
Oxnard 7-18 12 14-27
