Riverside scored five runs in the first inning on Wednesday night and went on to hand SBCC an 8-3 nonconference baseball loss at Evans Sports Complex in Riverside.
Connor McManigal went 2-4 for the No. 6 Vaqueros (21-12), who were held to six hits by four Tiger pitchers. Nick King, Austin Monte and Dajohn Murray each drove in two runs for Riverside (18-15), which is ranked 17th in Southern Cal. The Tigers have won three straight and six of their last eight.
“They’re a hot team and we played very uninspired baseball,” said Santa Barbara coach Jeff Walker. “We didn’t do a good job in the strike-throwing contest or throwing the ball around.”
The Vaqueros took a 1-0 lead in the first when Noeh Martinez walked and went to second on a sacrifice by James Hill. Martinez took third and scored on back-to-back strikeouts where the batter reached first on a passed ball.
SBCC struck out eight times and left nine runners on base.
Riverside built a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the first on three hits, a walk and an error. Patrick O’Brien scored for SBCC in the third on an error. The Tigers added three more in the sixth to boost the lead to 8-2.
Justin Bruce went 5 2/3 innings, giving up eight runs (five earned) on 10 hits with four strikeouts and three walks. Bryan Conant got the win with three innings of scoreless relief.
