Junior ace Danny Zandona threw a two-hitter on 77 pitches and also drove in two runs on Friday as the Santa Barbara High baseball team won a pitchers duel in its season-opener at Pioneer Valley, 4-0, in the Central Coast Tournament.
Zandona held the Panthers to just two fifth-inning singles, striking out six and walking one.
“Early in the season we’re just going to try to be mechanically sound. I think it comes down to pitching and defense with this team,” said assistant coach Mike Cooney. “The pitching was ahead of the hitting, and I expect it will be that way for awhile.”
Zandona drove in Cameron Gniadek on a sacrifice fly to put Santa Barbara up 1-0 in the fifth. A Trey Barrett single was bobbled by the Panthers in the sixth, allowing Spencer Fraker and Kees T’sas to score and Barrett to get to second. Barrett got to third on a groundout and then came home on a groundout by Zandona.
The Dons (1-0) stole five bases on the day. They’ll play at tournament-host Righetti on Tuesday.
SANTA BARBARA 4, PIONEER VALLEY 0
Santa Barbara…000 013 0 — 4 4 0
Pioneer Valley…000 000 0 — 0 2 4
Zandona and Eaton. Perez, Delaguerra (6), Orozco (7) and Orozco, Esparza (7).
2B — SB: Barrett.
