Santa Barbara City College baseball chipped away with single runs in five separate innings to defeat Moorpark College, 5-3, to open the second half of the Western State Conference series in the afternoon sun, Thursday, March 31, at Raiders Stadium.

In what has become a familiar refrain this season, Moorpark took a 3-2 lead in the third, but failed to add to its advantage and Vaqueros pitching shutout the Raiders after that.

“They hit better with two outs and two strikes than we did,” said Head Coach Mario Porto. “We had guys swing at bad pitches with two strikes. You have to have trust in yourself to know the strike zone better than that.”

After the Vaqueros took a 1-0 lead in the second, Jack Rosenberg’s lead-off single for the Raiders was followed by Terrell Tate’s bunt in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, Austin Fields RBI double tied the score 1-1.

“It was a disappointing loss,” said designated hitter Daniel Cipriano. “We wanted to start the second half of the conference schedule a different way, but we’ll get back at it again on Saturday at their place.”

Santa Barbara went ahead on Chris Smutny’s homerun in the third, but Jesse Aucelluzzo’s response with a double to left was followed by Garrett Kueber’s RBI single tying it for Moorpark.

“This was a tough game and we battled real hard, but we didn’t come out on top today,” said Kueber who had three hits and an RBI.

Kueber stole second and third in quick succession in the third, and celebrated his return from a recent facial injury when Rosenberg’s RBI single drove him home.

“Garrett stole second base on his own because the pitcher got into a rhythm and he was gone before he threw the pitch,” said Porto. “The third baseman was back, so I just gave him the nod and he [took off.]”

The Vaqueros tied the game with a run in the fourth inning and went ahead for good when a Raiders error at first and a wild pitch by freshman starter Trevor Weston delivered an unearned run in the fifth.

“Chiaramonte at third made a few good plays in the sixth that kept us in the game, and saved at least two runs,” said Weston. “It’s been a struggle, but I was locating my pitches well and throwing for strikes.”

Weston pitched six innings, gave up seven hits and four runs and got the loss. His record is now 2-4 as a starter.

With one out in the ninth for Santa Barbara, successive hits by Michael Montpas and Smutny put runners in scoring position and Jake Gagain’s fly ball out to center drove home the final nail 5-3.

“He wants to play and he’s been working out on his own,” said Porto laughing. “That was probably the best thing about today was to have Garrett Kueber back.”

Moorpark faces Pierce College in the third leg of the WSC matchup on Tuesday, April 7 at Raiders Stadium at 2:30 p.m.