Zach Zehner went 4-4 with two RBIs on Tuesday and SBCC’s offense came alive in an 11-7 WSC North baseball win over Oxnard at Pershing Park.
First baseman Mark Jebbia was 2-3 with three RBIs for the Vaqueros (18-16, 10-8), who used 17 hits to snap a three-game losing streak. They took an 11-0 lead into the ninth inning but Oxnard (16-17, 7-11) scored seven runs in the ninth off three relievers, thanks to three hits, four walks, a hit batter and an error.
Cuesta (13-5) claimed the conference title with a 7-4 win over Ventura. SBCC is alone in second, one game ahead of Ventura with two to play. The top two teams in the WSC North will earn a trip to the 18-team Southern Cal Regional.
“We had a great bounce-back effort from our last game (a 4-3 loss in 10 innings at Oxnard),” said Zehner, who raised his team-high batting average by 20 points, up to .381. “We made sure we showed up and did what needs to be done.
“We have to do a better job of finishing. But we got the job done today and that’s all that matters.”
The Vaqueros are 10-5 at home this year and Zehner is batting .424 at Pershing Park.
Freshman right-hander Connor Detko was sharp for Santa Barbara, holding the visitors to no runs on three hits in six innings. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.
Tyler Sharp and Jebbia had RBI singles in the third and Tony Simon scored on a double play as the Vaqueros took a 3-0 lead.
They stretched it to 9-0 after a six-run sixth inning that featured eight hits. Jebbia had a two-run triple to start the rally and Zehner had two singles in the frame as SBCC sent 11 batters to the plate. Zehner’s infield single scored Steven Reveles with the ninth run and chased Oxnard starter Daniel Lerma.
The first three batters in the Vaquero lineup — Reveles, Payton Milone (3-5, 2 RBIs) and Zehner combined to go 9-14 (.643) with five RBIs and five runs. Reveles has a nine-game hit streak and also stole a base, boosting his state-leading total to 30. He needs five more to break Corey Krupp’s school record of 34, set in 2009.
The Vaqueros lead the state in stolen bases with 95.
“We’ve had a pretty crummy string of games trying to hit the baseball,” said associate head coach Justin Aspegren. “We came out aggressive today. We were hunting fastballs off their guy who was throwing predominantly fastballs. We found barrel for the first time in a while.
“Our pitch selection was much better today. All we can do now is take care of tomorrow’s practice and see what happens on Thursday.”
SBCC hosts L.A. Pierce on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. and travels to Woodland Hills to take on Pierce in the regular-season finale on Friday.
BOX SCORE
Oxnard ….….. 000 000 007 — 7 7 0
SBCC …..…… 000 306 02x — 11 17 3
Lerma, Grajeda (6), Amezquita (8) and Hernandez; Detko, Massengale (7), Lambert (9), Neustadt (9), Van Aken (9) and Dinges. W–Detko 3-7. L–Lerma 1-2.
2B–O: Guevara, Morelli. SB: Zehner, Smith. 3B–SB: Jebbia.
