Vaqueros make it a perfect 10 with 11-6 triumph

Tyler Gilbert had a perfect game through five innings on Thursday at Pershing Park and he got plenty of support from the SBCC offense in an 11-6 baseball win over East Los Angeles.

The Vaqueros scored seven runs in the second on five hits, three walks and an error to take an 8-0 lead. SBCC made it a perfect 10, extending the best start in school history to 10-0.

Santa Barbara is the last unbeaten team in Southern Cal and one of three unbeatens in the state.

Gilbert, a sophomore left-hander who's signed with USC, tossed one-hit ball for seven innings to improve to 4-0. Zachary Ashford broke up the perfect game with a single leading off the sixth but was quickly erased on a 6-4-3 double play.

Gilbert gave up a run in the seventh and finished with nine strikeouts, a walk and a hit batter. He got a lot of first-pitch strikes and 0-2 counts on batters.

"Getting those first-pitch strikes was a key," said Gilbert. "I was feeling it from the beginning of the game. All my pitches were working for the first time in a while.

"I was trying not to think about the perfect game. It did cross my mind and when you think about it, that's when bad things happen."

James Brakka, a freshman first baseman from San Marcos High, led the offense, going 2-4 with three RBIs to raise his average to .400. Trey Barrett, a freshman from Santa Barbara High, had a two-run double and three RBIs. Matt Henderson and Spencer Erdman both went 2-4.

It was the first game back for Barrett, who missed three games with an injury.

"It was an off-speed pitch away (on his two-run double) and I just wanted stay in the middle," said Barrett, who celebrated his 22^nd birthday on Thursday. "We're crazy on offense. No one can stop us. It seems like we can put up 10 runs every game."

The Vaqueros have scored 25 runs in the last two days and 55 in their last five games, boosting their state-leading average to 9.6 a game.

Brandon Evans singled to lead off the bottom of the first and scored on Barrett's groundout to shortstop. Two singles and an error scored a run in the second, then Barrett delivered a two-run double to left-center. Connor McManigal walked to chase starter Shawn Kennedy. Reliever Jonathan Granados brought in two more runs on wild pitches and then walked Patrick O'Brien.

Matt Henderson greeted the third Huskies' pitcher with an infield single up the middle that scored McManigal and boosted the lead to 8-0. The Vaqueros added three in the fifth on a three-run double by Brakka.

"Early, it seemed like everything we were doing was right and Tyler was executing his pitches," said SBCC coach Jeff Walker. "And our offense was executing. We had a good run-and-hit, a sacrifice bunt. We were clicking on all cylinders.

"Getting their starter out as quick as we did is another sign of how tough our lineup has been so far this season."

The Vaqueros had a hiccup in the ninth, as James Chadband hit three straight batters and the Huskies (6-4) score five runs. Noah Villegas gave up a three-run double to Michael Aguilar before ending the game with back-to-back strikeouts.

The Vaqueros travel to Monterey Park for a rematch with East L.A. on Saturday at 1 p.m.