The Carpinteria baseball team clinched a playoff berth by beating visiting Malibu 9-6 on Tuesday, a game in which SBART Player of the Year Nathan Saito pitched a complete game and hit his eighth home run of the season.
Saito improved his personal record to 6-2 and the Warriors (13-8) are now in fourth place in the Tri-Valley League at 6-5 with one final game at Malibu on Thursday.
Carpinteria took control on Tuesday with a 5-run fifth that was followed by a 2-run sixth that gave the Warriors a 9-2 lead.
The Sharks managed to score four runs in the top of the seventh to make it interesting, but right fielder Jeremy Stein snared a hard-hit line drive to end the game with the tying run at the plate.
Isacc Cervantes went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs and Robert Thornton added two hits. Steven Blum pitched in an RBI double and scored three runs on the day.
The wildcard round for the CIF Division IV playoffs are Tuesday.
CARPINTERIA 9, MALIBU 6
Malibu 000 110 4 – 6 13 2
Carpinteria 002 052 X – 9 10 2
M – J. Conrad, Kesselman (5), and Wolford. Carp – Saito, and D. Carrillo. WP – Saito (6-2) LP – J. Conrad (2-2). 2B – M 2 (S. Conrad, Vititoe), C 1 (Blum). HR – C 1 (Saito, 1 on, 6th inning). Records – M 8-14, 4-7. C 13-8, 6-5
