Metz shuts down Ventura in first college start, 7-4

Jayden Metz, who pitched the last few years for Ventura High, made his first college start for SBCC on Tuesday against Ventura College. The 6-4 right-hander shut down the Pirates, holding them to one run three hits over six innings in a 7-4 WSC North baseball win at Pershing Park.

"I found out I was going to start on Saturday," said Metz, who had only pitched 3.1 innings in four games prior to Tuesday. "I was a little bit nervous. I was trying to be consistent and use my whole body.

"My fastball was working and I mixed it up with a couple of off-speed pitches. The offense came through for me."

The Vaqueros improved to 10-1 at home. Santa Barbara is 15-11 overall and 6-4 in the conference, tied for second with Moorpark behind Cuesta (7-3) after the first round. Ventura fell to 15-10 and 5-5.

John Jensen, a freshman third baseman from Santa Barbara High, had a huge day for SBCC, going 4-5 with two singles, a double and a triple. He reached base five times and stole two bases. Reinhard Lautz was 2-5 with two RBIs and two runs.

Jensen added 29 points to his team-high batting average, which is now .333. He ranks second in 10 WSC games in batting (.389) and first in slugging percentage (.639).

The Vaqueros took a 1-0 lead in the first on a sky-high triple by Jensen and three straight walks by Ventura starter Austin Rubick. The Vaqueros are 7-2 when they score in the first inning and 9-3 when they score first.

Ventura tied it in the third when TJ Durfee drew a walk and Chris McKee delivered a two-out single to right-center.

The Vaqueros took control with four runs in the fourth. Andrew Schatz drew a leadoff walk and Michael Montpas reached when the pitcher made an error on his sacrifice bunt attempt. After a sacrifice moved the runners to second and third, Tyler Rosen drilled a two-run double over the left fielder's head and scored on Lautz's single through the right side. The second baseman couldn't handle Jensen's grounder for an error, bringing in Lautz to make it 5-1.

Metz retired 16 of the first 19 batters. Ventura got runners on first and second on singles by Rodolfo Aguilar and Blake Chiaramonte with one out in the fifth. Metz got Brendan Griffith to hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

"Sometimes, you're forced to find another starter because of a rainout and it turns into a blessing in disguise," said sixth-year Vaquero coach Jeff Walker. "We knew he would be our guy if there was any kind of weather and it was a good matchup. He did an excellent job in his first collegiate start.

"And it was another good day for John Jensen. We were able to execute but it would have been nice to get a few more runs early. We let their starter off the hook."

The Vaqueros stretched the lead to 7-1 in the sixth when Michael Montpas opened with a double to left. With two outs, Lautz dropped a drag bunt down the third-base line and Chiaramonte had no play, allowing Montpas to score. Lautz scored all the way from first on a single by Jensen and an error by the center fielder.

Ventura scored three unearned runs in the eighth on an error by shortstop Wesley Ghan-Gibson and a two-run single by Bryson Wallet.

With a 7-4 lead in the top of the ninth, Brandon Luper came in to pitch. He walked Kaden Betsch, then gave up a single to Durfee. He had an 0-2 count on Shane Gipson, then threw three straight balls before striking him out looking. McKee also worked the count to 3-2, then looked at strike 3.

Jake Keily relieved Luper and got Aguilar to strike out on three pitches for his second save.

"We did what we should do, which is win at home," said Walker. "It's a typical Western State North race -- everybody beats everybody. It's about holding your serve at home and trying to steal one on the road."

The Vaqueros open the second round of WSC play on Thursday at Hancock at 2:30 p.m., then host the Bulldogs on Saturday at 1 p.m.