Four Vaqueros hold No. 2 Orange Coast to 5 hits in 1-0 shutout

Kyle Wade tossed five shutout innings on Thursday and Tyler Rosen drove in the only run with an RBI single in the fourth as SBCC upset No. 2 Orange Coast 1-0 in a nonconference baseball game at Pershing Park.

Freshman second baseman Shane Hersh went 3-3 for the Vaqueros (20-13) and made a diving grab on a line drive up the middle to end the third inning. Rosen was 2-3. Santa Barbara won for the sixth time in eight games and boosted its home record to 12-2. The Pirates dropped their second game in two days and fell to 25-7.

Orange Coast is ranked No. 2 in the state and No. 1 in Southern Cal in the coaches' poll. The Vaqueros are 12th in Southern Cal.

SBCC hit the 20-win plateau for the 10th time in the last 11 years. The 1-0 win marked the first time in eight games this season that Santa Barbara has won when scoring two runs or less. The Vaqueros are 8-10 when they get five runs or less and 12-3 when scoring six or more.

Four Vaquero pitchers combined on a five-hitter with 10 strikeouts. It was the third shutout for the Vaqueros and the first time the Pirates have been blanked this year.

Wade faced just one over the minimum in the first four innings. Ramiro Velasco got a leadoff single in the fifth, then Wade got a long flyout and a double-play ball to shortstop Wesley Ghan-Gibson.

SBCC scored the lone run in the fourth when Reinhard Lautz led off with an infield single. He went to second on a groundout and scored on Rosen's sharp single through the left side.

"This is a huge win," said Rosen, a sophomore outfielder from Palos Verdes. "It shows that we can compete with anyone in the state. I saw a bunch of pitches from their starter, including his four-seamer, his curveball and his changeup, so I was pretty confident. I took a two-strike approach and just tried to put the bat on it."

Wade held the Orange Empire co-leaders to three hits in five innings with five strikeouts and no walks. Daniel Buratto pitched the sixth and seventh, striking out three, and David Appleby pitched a 1-2-3 eighth.

After playing first base for eight innings, Jake Holton came on in the ninth for his second pitching appearance of the year. He gave up a single and then intentionally walked Travis Moniot to set up the double play with one out. Eric Wagaman hit into a forceout at second and Holton fanned pinch-hitter Robert Teel to get his first save.

"I've always been a pitcher and always loved to pitch," said Holton, a 6-foot right-hander from Los Gatos, Calif. "I felt good out there in the ninth. I had good command of my fastball and I threw all fastballs except for one.

"It's awesome to beat the No. 2 team in the state. This gives us a lot of confidence heading into tomorrow and hopefully, we'll have the same outcome."

The four Vaquero pitchers struck out 10 Pirates and had just one walk (the intentional pass in the ninth).

"It was a well-played game," said coach Jeff Walker. "We did great. We scored one more than them and that was enough. The great thing about playing a nonconference game is we've been struggling with our pitching on the back end and we can try some different guys."

The Vaqueros will host Orange Coast again on Friday with the first pitch at 2:30 p.m.