Three home runs all of last season had Santa Barbara High’s baseball team looking pretty lean on the power side of things.
Trey Barrett and the Dons got fat in a hurry on Tuesday, eating up visiting Dos Pueblos with three home runs in one inning on their way to a 13-5 Channel League victory.
Barrett launched two on his own in a nine-run second inning and finished the day 3-for-4 with 6 RBIs. Danny Zandona had two hits, including a second-inning solo home run.
[imagebrowser id=14]”We did the last thing last game,” said Chargers head coach Nate Mendoza, whose defending league champions are off to an 0-2 start this season. “We have to eliminate the big inning.”
Having a two-run homer already under his belt, Barrett cracked a grand slam in his second at bat of the second inning to put Santa Barbara up 9-3 after DP took a 3-0 lead in the first.
“I was expecting a bunch of deuces,” Barrett explained, referring to his second at-bat. “But I got a ball over the plate I could drive.”
Barrett’s first cleared the right-field fence while his second was pulled to left field.
“Nonbody has improved more in three years,” said Dons head coach Fred Warrecker of his imposing first baseman.
[poll id=”28″]Santa Barbara followed up in the bottom of the third with another big inning, sending nine batters to the plate to score four more runs. Joey Gonzales came through with the big hit in that inning, a two-run RBI single that benefitted from a lucky high bounce over shortstop Steven Reveles’ head.
“Today everything went right for us,” Warrecker said, citing Gonzales’ good fortune. “That was symbolic of the way things were going.”
Collin Dewell picked up the victory for the Dons to improve his record to 2-0. Kees T’sas came on in relief in the fifth inning and allowed a single run in two innings while Alex Spatz closed out the Chargers in the seventh by striking out the side.
Freshman Gabe Speier started for Dos Pueblos, taking his first loss to fall to 2-1. Bradley Tirador and Porfiro Avila finished up, with Avila recording two scoreless innings of work.
The game was huge for both teams in that each began league play with a loss on Friday. The Chargers fall to 0-2 while Santa Barbara evens its league record at 1-1.
Joe Huthsing, who will try to get DP its first league win when he starts on Friday at Buena, socked a solo home run in the sixth inning.
Santa Barbara also plays on Friday, facing Ventura.
SANTA BARBARA 13, DOS PUEBLOS 5
Dos Pueblos 300 101 0 – 5 10 0
Santa Barbara 094 000 X – 13 14 1
Dewell, T’sas(5), Spatz(7), and Eaton. Speier, Tirador(2), Avila(5). 2b – DP (Reveles). HR – DP (Huthsing), SB 3 (Barrett 2, Zandona)
