The Moorpark Raiders came away victorious against the East Los Angeles Huskies at a home baseball game on Feb. 24.

Billy Butler pitched the top of the ninth, when the Raiders were up 1-0, to try and close out the game. With the count at one ball and two strikes, Butler threw a fastball to strike out the batter.

“That is why Billy is one of the best relievers in the region,” said Moorpark College coach Mario Porto. “He doesn’t crack under pressure.”

Although this game ended with intense pressure and tons of excitement, the rest of the game was not like that at all. Until the sixth inning, Moorpark didn’t have a hit and East L.A pitchers held the Raiders to only two hits. Moorpark’s pitchers were just as good. Starting pitcher Kevin Hernandez of Moorpark threw seven scoreless innings with five strikeouts and only two walks for the win. The sixth inning started with Jared Rodriguez reaching base on a walk. The next batter, David Adler, had the first hit of the game for the Raiders when he lined a shot into left field, but Rodriguez failed to advance to third base on the hit, much to the frustration of Porto. Cory Swenson came up next and also got a hit, but no one was able to score.

“I’ll play like this every time if we could just hit a little better,” said Porto.

East Los Angeles Coach James Hines decided to make a change, bringing in a relief pitcher. His move failed as his relief pitcher hit the next batter, Eric Blackwell, which brought in the only run Moorpark needed for the win.

It wasn’t smooth sailing from there. The Huskies battled and worked their way on base, threatening to score every inning, but Moorpark reliever Troy Warn shut them down in the eighth.

The ninth inning started with an unexpected error from Moorpark’s solid third baseman, Nick Dingman, which put a runner on first. That same runner stole second, eliminating Moorpark’s chance to turn a double play, which they did twice earlier in the game. The next hitter for the Huskies scored a base hit, but the runner on second was unable to score.

Coach Hines decided to call a trick play in the next at bat. He called a squeeze play, but was unsuccessful as the runner who was on third was tagged out near home. The other two runners were able to advance to second and third. With two outs and two on, Porto decided to intentionally walk the next batter to load them up. A pinch hitter was put in to face Butler, but with no success as he struck out, leaving Moorparkwith the nail biter 1-0.

“We played all nine innings.” said Porto.