Moorpark College was leading by a slim, 5-4 margin going into the seventh inning, when the Vaqueros added four unanswered runs to win, 8-5, in an early afternoon game on the second day of spring at Raiders Stadium, Saturday.
Starter, Thomas Luevano who had two hits, pitched three and two thirds innings and was responsible for four Vaqueros runs. He was relieved by freshman, Bryan Marberry, who pitched two and a third scoreless innings, and left the game in the seventh with one on and no outs.
“I came on to throw third strikes for our guys,” Marberry said. “It was a good game, but it was a tough loss. We got down on ourselves in the end when they got those last couple of runs.”
Michael Deleon, who relieved Marberry, pitched a third of an inning, and gave up three runs on a single, a bunt which forced home a run, and a killer two-run double by Vaqueros infielder, Jake Gagain. A double by outfielder Noeh Martinez off reliever Chase Fredrick, with one out and a runner on second, brought home the final run.
“We had one bad inning and it cost us,” head coach Mario Porto said. “We hit the ball pretty well today, and we played good defense. We didn’t pitch the way we should have in that [seventh] inning, and we gave up four runs.”
With runners at the corners and two outs in the first inning, an infield error brought home the first run for Santa Barbara. Moorpark tied the game in the second, when Jack Mulville, who had three hits in the game, doubled home a run from third with two outs.
“I had a good day at the plate, and my swing was great,” Mulville said. “We lost, so I’m upset about that. The wheels fell off a little bit and we just couldn’t pick it back up.”
Designated hitter, Cameron Jones hit a solo home run for the Vaqueros in the third, and it added two runs in the forth. The Raiders answered with a run in the fourth when Garrett Serino’s fly ball to center drove home a runner from third with one out.
Moorpark took the lead briefly with three runs in the fifth. Mulville started with a base hit and was immediately followed by Sam Gerald’s safe call at first on an infield error. With the bases loaded and one out, Garrett Keeber’s key double drove in two runs, and was followed by Luevano’s infield base hit, producing the final Raiders run.
“We were not capable of throwing strikes where we needed to,” said reliever Emery Johnson. “We were falling behind, 2-0 and 3-0, in counts today, and throwing pitches that you don’t want to throw.”
The Raiders next game will be played on the road at Pierce College starting at 2:30 p.m.
