Moorpark ended a three game losing streak and returned to its winning ways, whacking local rivals Pierce College in an eight run first inning, and coasting their way to an easy 9-4 victory.

The Brahmas responded with a solo home run in the second and added three more in the fifth to cut the Raiders lead to 8-4. However, Pierce never recovered from Moorpark’s early assault.

Freshman starter, Jake Eaton from Valencia High School, pitched five complete innings for his first win of the season.

“I feel pretty good that I finally got a W,” Eaton said. “I went five innings and gave up four runs. I had a little trouble locating a few pitches, but my arm felt strong and I felt fine.”

Freshman reliever, Emery Johnson, who struggled when he came on in the sixth, shut out Pierce the rest of the way for the save. A double play with one on and no outs in the ninth helped his cause, as he struck out the final batter to end the game.

“This is the first time I’ve gone past three innings in a very long time,” Johnson said. “I gave up three hits in the sixth inning for no runs. In my first inning, I was still trying to figure things out. In the second inning, I felt a lot more confidence in my fastball, and started figuring out my windup a lot better.”

The Raiders batted around, sending 13 men to the plate in the bottom of the first inning. With no outs, and the bases loaded, catcher Parker Hindle doubled in the first two runs of the game. A walk loaded the bases and Garrett Serino’s hit sent another run home. Dalton Duarte’s base hit scored two runs, and was followed immediately by Michael Barregamyan’s bunt single loading the bases again, with no outs.

“We lost three in a row,” head coach Mario Porto, said. “We’ll take the win, and hopefully that gets us going in the right direction again. We had one good inning, but after that, we didn’t do very well at the plate. I was disappointed in the way that happened.”

With two outs, and the Brahmas working with its third pitcher in the first inning, Garrett Keeber’s base hit brought home the sixth run. Base-on-balls to Thomas Luevano and Hindle forced in two additional runs before a groundout ended the carnage.

“We were able to manufacture runs today when it counted,” Johnson said. “We’ve been struggling to bring it together in the last couple of games, and this game in conference means so much more to us.”

The Raiders record is now 7-6. Moorpark’s next game at Raider Stadium is against Ventura College on Tuesday, February 24 at 2 p.m.