Vaqueros rally for 4-3 walk-off win in 10th

Kit Larson pitched two innings of scoreless relief on Saturday and Brett Sesma scored on an infield error for a walk-off win in the 10^th as SBCC rallied past Cuesta 4-3 in a WSC North baseball game at Pershing Park.

The Vaqueros (20-9, 9-6) erased a 2-0 deficit with two runs in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Trey Barrett and an RBI double by Brandon Evans. Santa Barbara improved to 14-2 at home and reached 20 wins for the eighth straight year.

Winning 20 games has been tougher the last four years after the number of games was reduced from 44 to 36.

The Vaqueros are second in the WSC and moved within three games of first-place Oxnard (12-3), which lost to Hancock on Saturday 5-1. SBCC has five games left in conference, including two vs. Oxnard on April 9 and 11.

Larson (3-1) entered with the score tied 3-3 and a runner on first in the ninth. After a sacrifice and a walk, he ended the threat with a stikeout and a flyout. He pitched a 1-2-3 10^th inning to set up the Vaqueros' winning rally.

"I just like getting in the game, regardless of the score, the inning or the amount of outs," said Larson, a 6-4 freshman right-hander from Mill Valley, Calif. "We have a team philosophy of winning every pitch and staying engaged in the game, even if you're on the bench."

Larson lowered his ERA to 1.01 and leads the team in batting-average against with a miniscule .106.

Sesma had a nine-pitch at-bat to open the bottom of the 10^th and drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch. Connor McManigal sacrificed him to second and following a groundout, James Brakka hit a grounder that the second baseman couldn't handle, bringing in Sesma with the winning run.

"We have bats and they're always going to be there," said Brakka, a former San Marcos High standout. "We started hot at the beginning of the year and we're trying to get back on a run like that."

Noah Villegas went the first six innings for the Vaqueros, who've won three of their last four. He gave up two runs (one earned) on four hits. He struck out four but was also a bit wild with five walks and two hit batters. The Cougars loaded the bases in the first two innings but only produced one run.

Cuesta (7-21, 3-12) took a 3-2 lead in the seventh when Myles Franklin walked off reliever Cody Van Aken, went to third on a single by Nick Burnham and scored an unearned run when Evans made an error in center field.

The Vaqueros tied it in the eighth on a leadoff single by McManigal, a sacrifice by Patrick O'Brien and a two-out single to left by Barrett. O'Brien had two of his team's seven hits.

SBCC is 20-2 when scoring three or more runs and 17-0 when out-hitting the opponent (they won the hit battle 7-6 on Saturday).

"The baseball gods were on our side (in the 10^th)," said SBCC coach Jeff Walker. "Noah gave us a chance to win. Today was the best we've swung the bats in a while.

"Any win's a good win and a walkoff is a good win. We set up the last inning by executing, which we didn't do the inning before."

The Vaqueros travel to San Luis Obispo to take on Cuesta on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.