Seven-Run Fifth Guides Vaqueros to Super Regionals
By Jimmy Friery
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Santa Barbara City College Baseball team punched their ticket to the 3C2A Super Regionals by winning the Riverside Regional on Sunday, beating San Diego Mesa 15-6 in a winner-take-all final game.
Similar to Friday's win, the Vaqueros took advantage of Mesa's freebies in a seven-run fifth inning to blow the game open. Max Collins pitched seven relief innings to earn the win.
To get here, the Vaqueros came back to beat the hosts, Riverside, 8-7 after trailing 7-3 in the first game on Saturday. That ended Riverside's season and, still unbeaten, allowed the Vaqueros two chances to beat Mesa to advance. Mesa won 11-4 on Saturday afternoon to trigger the "if necessary" Sunday game.
Opener Cooper Tinkey started the game with two quick outs. However, three walks and two singles followed, allowing two runs to score and forcing Collins to enter earlier than expected—and with the bases loaded. He got the first batter he faced to fly out, ending the threat.
Western State Conference (WSC) North Player of the Year William Matuszak immediately answered in the bottom half with a leadoff homer. Later in the inning, Bradley Cekada's two-strike, two-out RBI single tied the game at 2-2.
The next three innings went scoreless. The Vaqueros broke the tie in the fifth with a massive seven runs, though, taking a 9-2 lead. Somehow, they did it with only two hits in the inning—one of which being a bunt. Five walks, two sacrifice flies, two stolen bases, two wild pitches, an error, and a hit-by-pitch did most of the damage to tilt the game heavily in Santa Barbara's favor.
Mesa got a run in the top of the sixth, but the Vaqueros countered with four more. Cole Ide's two-run double, a balk, and Elijah Garcia's RBI single made it 13-3 Santa Barbara.
The result all but clinched, Mesa scored in the seventh with a solo homer. Another RBI hit from Ide and Sean Asperger's single scored two for the Vaqueros, who now led 15-4.
Two more consolation runs for Mesa eventually chased Collins in the eighth, who scattered seven hits and allowed just one walk and four unimportant runs. Drew Cappel got the final four outs to solidify the 15-6 win, sending Santa Barbara to the Super Regionals.
Perhaps the most emblematic stat of the game is that all four of Mesa's errors directly contributed to Vaquero runs. The Vaqueros did not commit an error on the day.
Cekada led the team with three of their 13 hits and three RBIs. Ide had two hits, two walks, three RBIs, and scored three runs. Matuszak had two hits (including the leadoff homer), three walks, and a stolen base.
The Vaqueros set themselves up for an eye-catching all-WSC North Super Regional matchup at Hancock, who won three close games over Cuesta and Grossmont to win their Regional. The top two teams in the conference, Hancock finished two games above Santa Barbara to end the latter's streak of three consecutive conference championships. After splitting the four games between them in the regular season, they will begin their playoff series on Thursday at 2 p.m. Game two is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. and, if necessary, a winner-take-all game three would be on Saturday.