Ryan Massengale and Stephen Foote provided solid relief out of the bullpen on Thursday and SBCC hung on for a 7-6 WSC North baseball win over Hancock in Santa Maria.
Colby Taylor was 3-4 with a triple and an RBI and Tony Simon extended his hit streak to 24 games by going 2-3 with an RBI. Tyler Sharpe had two hits and two RBIs for the Vaqueros (16-13, 8-5), who remained in a first-place tie with Ventura and Cuesta.
Starter Brendon Shoemake pitched 5.2 innings, giving up five runs (three earned) on three hits. He struck out five but also walked four and hit four batters. Massengale went 2.1 innings, allowing just one run and fanning three. Foote pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
Hancock (13-16, 5-8) got a runner to second in the ninth but Foote got out of it with a forceout at third, a flyout and a groundout to first.
SBCC took a 5-0 lead against Hancock starter Nathan Thompson, who brought a 1.77 ERA into the contest. Hancock scored four in the sixth to tie it at 5-5 before the Vaqueros regained the lead with two runs in the seventh.
Taylor’s RBI single put the Vaqueros up 6-5 and Jared Dinges produced a run on a fielder’s choice.
“It was a good victory on the road against a good pitcher,” said SBCC coach Jeff Walker. “In the end, our bullpen really picked us up.”
The Vaqueros host Hancock on Saturday at 1 p.m.
BOX SCORE
SBCC ………… 201 110 200 — 7 11 3
Hancock ……… 000 014 010 — 6 6 1
Shoemake, Massengale (6), Foote (9) and Dinges; Thompson, Girard (6) and Regalado. W–Massengale 2-1. L–Girard 1-3. Save–Foote 5.
2B–H: Bendele, Fight, Thomas. 3B–SB: Taylor.
