SBCC's Shane Turner pitched the eighth and ninth innings on Saturday. (Presidio Sports Photo)
It took SBCC’s offense a long time to get going on Saturday at Pershing Park and the Vaqueros came up one run short in a 5-4 WSC baseball loss to Ventura.
Dewey Grattan went 4-5 for the Pirates (10-7, 1-2) and his ninth-inning solo homer proved to be the difference.
Ventura grabbed an early 4-0 lead on a two-run single by Scott Zeman in the first, Tim Ginther’s RBI single in the second and a solo homer by Eric Contreras in the third.
The Vaqueros (8-9, 2-1) got on the board in the fifth when Eli Michaels doubled down the right-field line to score Zach Zehner. That was one of only two hits the Vaqueros got off left-hander Dennis Doherty in the first seven innings.
“He’s a soft left-handed pitcher and we’ve struggled with that all year but so has everybody since the beginning of time,” said SBCC coach Jeff Walker. “We have to do a better job of making adjustments.
“We had a fly ball that should have been caught in the first inning. Instead of them going up 2-0, it would have been 0-0 with us coming to the plate. We battled back and competed and (Danny) Nieves threw very well for us.”
Doherty gave up three runs on four hits with six walks and one strikeout. Nieves, a sophomore left-hander, allowed four runs on seven hits in 7 2/3 innings, walking two and striking out one. He also hit four batters, including three in the first two innings.
Epperson was 2-5 for the Vaqueros, who finished with six hits. They cut the deficit to 4-3 with two runs in the eighth. Joey Gonzalez reached on a bunt single, stole second and scored on Epperson’s triple down the right-field line. Epperson came home on a wild pitch, which was also ball four to Brandon Laubhan.
Jacob Murray replaced Doherty on the mound. Laubhan reached third with one out but the inning ended on a groundout and flyout. In the ninth, Jared Dinges had an RBI single and Eli Michaels reached second base with two outs. But Zeman, who pitched the ninth inning, struck out Epperson on a 2-2 count.
“If we made better decisions on defense, those two homers might have been the only two runs they scored,” said Walker. “But we won the week, going 2-1, which was our goal.”
The Vaqueros travel to Ventura on Tuesday for a 2:30 p.m. contest.
VENTURA 5, SBCC 4
Ventura …… 211 000 001 — 5 8 0
SBCC ……… 000 010 021 — 4 6 2
Doherty, Murray (8), Zeman (9) and Burke; Nieves, Turner (8) and Dinges. W–Doherty 1-1. L–Nieves 1-3. Save–Zeman 3.
2B–SB: Michaels (3). 3B–V: Grattan (3). SB: Epperson (1), Cavalier (1). HR–V: Contreras (2), 3rd inn., none on; Grattan (3), 9th inn., none on.
