Sophomore left-hander Cody Fitzgerald threw a two-hit shutout on Monday at Pershing Park, leading Irvine Valley past SBCC 2-0 in a nonconference baseball game.
Fitzgerald struck out eight and walked just one. He had six 1-2-3 innings, including the ninth when he struck out two. He faced 30 batters, just three over the minimum.
It was the second win in five days for the Lasers (9-4) over the Vaqueros (4-8).
“Their pitcher did a real good job, he executed his plan,” said coach Ryan Thompson. “We got in the batter’s box and didn’t execute our plan. We took our ability to compete and kind of flushed it down the toilet.
“If he’s staying away (with his pitches), you have to try to drive the ball that way. The wind was blowing and we needed to stay on top of the ball. Then we have seven flyouts. We didn’t put any pressure on them.”
Colt McLaughlin had an infield single in the third for Santa Barbara and Chito Elias had a line-drive single in the fifth.
Irvine scored a run in the second on when Sean Guite singled, Drew Williams doubled and Guite scored on a throwing error. In the fifth, the visitors loaded the bases on an error, a walk and a hit batter. Chad Caraccioli walked Guite on a 3-2 count, forcing in the second run.
Caraccioli allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits over six innings. He struck out five, walked two and hit two batters.
The Vaqueros will host El Camino on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
IRVINE VALLEY 2, SBCC 0
Irvine Valley ….. 010 010 000 — 2 6 1
SBCC …………… 000 000 000 — 0 2 2
Fitzgerald and Almeida; Caraccioli, Alvarez (7) and White. W–Fitzgerzald 3-1. L–Caraccioli 2-2.
2B–IV: Williams.
