When the late-innings scramble had finished, Malibu came away with a 7-5 Frontier League victory over visiting Carpinteria on Tuesday.
Eleven of the game’s 12 runs were scored in the fourth inning or later. Carpinteria took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning before the Sharks built a 7-1 lead with two in the fourth, three in the fifth, and two more in the sixth.
The Warriors’ rallied with four runs in the top of the seventh but came up short.
“We were just a key play or a timely hit away from a win today,” reported Warriors head coach Pat Cooney.
Carpinteria (9-5) is the only team to have blemished Malibu’s league record, which now stands at 13-1.
Noah Simon picked up the win for the Sharks. Simon threw six innings and allowed six hits with two strikeouts.
Carpinteria had four players with multi-hit games, led by Marcus Hutchinson’s three. Anthony Rodriguez, Nick Walker and Derrick Moore each had a pair.
“The offensive approach has really been good,” Cooney said. “Our batters are rarely giving at bats away. We would like a better end result Thursday but either way we want to prepare all phases of our game for the playoffs.”
Malibu will travel to Carpinteria on Thursday for the regular season finale.
BOX SCORE
Carpinteria 001 000 4 – 5 11 1
Malibu 000 232 x – 7 5 2C – Damron, Sanchez (5), and Stein. M – Simon, Tade (7), and Falk.
