The bats were unstoppable on Saturday as SBCC erupted for 17 runs and 20 hits in a 17-5 baseball win over first-place Cuesta in San Luis Obispo.
Center fielder Brandon Laubhan went 4-6 with five RBIs and Joey Gonzales was 3-6 with four RBIs. Zach Zehner was 4-5 with two runs scored and Joey Epperson was 2-4 with a solo homer in the third.
Laubhan delivered two-run singles in the eighth and ninth. He’s second on the squad with 26 RBIs, one behind Steven Reveles.
SBCC improved to 16-17 and 9-8 in the WSC North, moving within two games of Cuesta (22-11, 11-6), the No. 4-ranked team in Southern California. Moorpark is in second place at 10-7 with three games remaining.
The first six batters in the Santa Barbara lineup went a combined 17-30 with 11 runs and 14 RBIs.
The Vaqueros, who’ve scored 29 runs in their last two games, led 8-3 after three innings and 10-5 after eight. They added seven more in the ninth on three hits and an error.
Cuesta committed four errors, leading to seven unearned runs.
Stephen Foote (1-1) earned his first win after relieving starter Rich McCaffrey with two outs and two on in the fifth. He got a strikeout to end the threat and pitched three innings, allowing just one run on four hits with four strikeouts.
Reveles, Eli Michaels and Jared Dinges each had two hits for the Vaqueros, who had 33 players reach base. Reveles and Dinges drove in two runs apiece.
Reveles, who hit .467 in three games this week (7-15), extended his hitting streak to seven games.
The Vaqueros have another key game on Tuesday when they host Cuesta at 2:30 p.m. On Thursday, they take on Oxnard at Pershing Park, followed by the regular-season finale on Friday at Oxnard.
LINESCORE
SBCC ……..… 215 000 027 — 17 20 1
Cuesta ……… 021 010 010 — 5 8 4
McCaffrey, Foote (5), Nieves (9) and Dinges; Goldsmith, Nelson (3), Nagy (8), Turner (8), Haringa (9) and Nieporte. W–Foote 1-1. L–Goldsmith 4-2.
2B–SB: Dinges. HR–SB: Epperson (2), 3rd inn., none on.
Records–SBCC 16-17, 9-8 WSC North; Cuesta 22-11, 11-6.
