What a difference two days can make.
Just 48 hours after managing four hits in a 3-2 loss at Moorpark, the SBCC baseball team erupted for 19 runs on 19 hits in a 19-4 win over the same Raider squad on Saturday at Pershing Park. The third-place Vaqueros (18-12, 8-6 WSC North) snapped a three-game losing skid and improved to 13-4 at home.
SBCC tried to change its luck by wearing black uniform tops and it worked for the second straight year. “It was blackout Saturday,” said coach Teddy Warrecker. “Expect to see us in black again on Tuesday.”
Second baseman Abe Ruiz had a career day, going 5-for-6 with a homer, a triple, four RBIs and five runs scored for SBCC, which tied its season high for runs. He finished a double shy of the cycle.
“I was staying on the ball a little better, staying up the middle and just making contact,” said the left-hand hitting Ruiz, a sophomore transfer from Arizona State. “We had a tough three-game stretch and it was good to put it all together for nine innings.”
Ruiz moved from third to second base two weeks ago after separating his shoulder. He got hits in four straight innings and scored four times in the third through sixth frames when the Vaqueros piled up 15 runs.
Conner Rehage belted a two-run homer during a six-run fourth inning and Steven Keller added a two-run shot in the fifth, boosting the lead to 16-2. Rehage, a sophomore from Dos Pueblos High, is second in the state with 11 home runs. With three round-trippers on Saturday, the Vaqueros raised their state-leading total to 48, one shy of the 2007 school record.
Santa Barbara is 16-2 when scoring seven or more runs.
“That’s the maddening part about this game — 48 hours later Abe has more hits than we had as a team,” said Warrecker. “This was a very important win for us. We have to keep winning to stay in this thing.
“We had some great two-strike RBIs and we hit for power today.”
Southpaw Joe McGrew (5-2) tossed seven innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk. Tyler Weed and Matt Montgomery hit back-to-back homers in the sixth for Moorpark (9-19-1, 2-12).
Tim Alvarez pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and Ryan Gardner struck out the side in the ninth.
“We got two scoreless innings out of the bullpen and didn’t commit an error for the second straight game,” added Warrecker. “In the fourth inning, we got a great sliding catch by Abe on a popup (behind first base) and a great throw to first by (third baseman) Danny Howell.”
SBCC travels to Ventura on Tuesday for a 2:30 p.m. game.
Moorpark ……. 000 202 000 — 4 7 2
SBCC …………. 015 642 01x — 19 19 0
Karp, Donahoe (4), Bergman (4), Auger (6), Leitner (8) and Cobb; McGrew, Alvarez (8), Gardner (9) and Keller, Trevino (8). W–McGrew 5-2. L–Karp.
2B–SB: White. 3B–M: Bonenfant, Montgomery. SB: Rehage, Ruiz. HR–M: Weed, 6th inn., none on; Montgomery, 6th inn., none on. SB: Rehage (11), 4th inn., one on; Keller (6), 5th inn., one on; Ruiz (10), 8th inn., none on.
Records–MC 9-19-1, 2-12. SBCC 18-12, 8-6.
