SBCC rallied for four runs in the seventh on Saturday afternoon, and the bullpen was rock solid in an 8-5 WSC North baseball win at Moorpark.
The No. 5 Vaqueros swept the four-game series with the Raiders (12-11, 5-9). SBCC won for the fifth straight time to boost its records to 17-5 overall and 10-4 in conference. The Vaqueros remained one game behind No. 4 Oxnard in the race for the WSC title.
Cam Jones belted his first homer of the year in the third, giving the visitors a 2-1 advantage. The lead grew to 4-1 in the fourth on Spencer Erdman’s RBI double and a bases-loaded walk by Brandon Evans. Evans walked five times in the contest.
Four Moorpark pitchers issued 12 walks and hit a batter compared to just two walks by the Vaqueros.
Jake Gagain went 2-5 with two RBIs and two runs while Noeh Martinez was 2-3.
Moorpark took a 5-4 lead in the fifth on a two-run double by Garrett Keuber and an RBI single from starting pitcher Thomas Leuvano. The Vaqueros put up a 4-spot in the seventh on Payton Milone’s fielder’s choice RBI, a two-run double by Gagain and an RBI double by Martinez.
SBCC’s No. 1 starter Justin Bruce had an off-day, giving up five runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings. The bullpen was sharp, however, blanking the Raiders the rest of the way on just five hits. Steven Ledesma (2-0) threw 1 2/3 innings to get the win, Jake Keily struck out six of the nine batters he faced and Kit Larson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save.
“It was a back-and-forth game and it was nice to see us come back for the win,” said coach Jeff Walker.
The Vaqueros have a big two-game series with Oxnard, traveling to the Condors’ Nest on Tuesday and hosting Oxnard on Thursday. Both games start at 2:30 p.m.
