Lautz gets first college homer in 7-4 road win

Reinhard Lautz drilled his first college home run, a two-run shot in the third, on Friday and SBCC went on to defeat Oxnard 7-4 in a WSC North baseball game.

Lautz, a transfer from UCSB and a former Agoura High standout, went 2-5 from the leadoff position. Joseph Hamilton doubled with one out in the third and Lautz homered for a 2-1 lead.

The Vaqueros (19-12, 10-5) regained sole possession of first in the WSC North, a half-game ahead of Moorpark (9-5). Cuesta, which lost 7-2 at Ventura on Friday, is 9-6 and Ventura is 8-7 in a tight race that has five games remaining.

Oxnard fell to 13-19-1 and 3-12.

John Jensen went 2-4, raising his average to .349. He ranks second in the WSC North for the season and he's No. 1 in conference play with a .397 average.

The Vaqueros boosted the lead to 4-1 in the fourth when Jake Holton doubled and scored on a wild pitch, then Andrew Schatz singled, went to third on an error and scored on a passed ball.

The Condors scored two in the sixth to make it 4-3. Holton delivered his second double in the seventh, a two-out shot that scored Michael Montpas and made it 5-3.

Kyle Wade (5-2) got the pitching win, going 5.2 innings and giving up three runs on six hits with four strikeouts and one walk. Steven Elliott tossed two innings of scoreless relief to earn his first save.

Oxnard cut the deficit to one run, 5-4, on Jordan Castro's RBI single in the seventh. The Vaqueros put up a pair of insurance runs in the ninth when Jensen scored on an error and Wesley Ghan-Gibson brought in Tyler Rosen with a sacrifice bunt.

The Vaqueros travel to the state's No. 6 team and Orange Empire leader, Riverside (24-8), on Tuesday for a 3 p.m. nonconference game.