On Thursday, Feb. 20, the Moorpark College baseball team faced off against the Vaqueros for the second game in a three-game series conference matchup at Santa Barbara City College.
After a solid 3-1 victory in the first game of the series, the Raiders entered the match with high hopes of building on their success. Despite their early optimism, the game quickly took a turn.
Starting on the mound was Raiders sophomore pitcher Paul Mellado. After the first batter he faced in the bottom of the first, he quickly hit a fly out to freshman right fielder Fernandez.
The next batter, Benjamin Strutt, reached base on a single and wasted no time stealing second. Aidan Camberg was able to drive in Strutt with an RBI single to left center. Moorpark regrouped and escaped the first inning by only allowing Santa Barbara to take an early 1-0 lead.
Over six innings, Mellado only allowed four runs on nine hits. The Raiders defense was still struggling to get runners across.
“Going in there the idea was to attack with fastballs, I found myself hitting my spots and putting the ball where I wanted,” Mellado said. “I felt good and was able to locate all my pitches. And it should have been a closer game when I came out.”
Moorpark made a pitching change as Caelan Eisenstein took the mound in relief of Mellado. Despite a shaky bullpen session, Eisenstein was determined to bounce back and focus on executing his game plan when he hit the mound.
“During my bullpen, I felt great before coming into the game. My offspeed was a bit off and I knew that offspeed is a big part of being a pitcher, especially throwing it for strikes,” Eisenstein said. “Coming into the game I focused on working the inner and outer edge of the plate with all my pitches to enforce weak contact.”
Santa Barbara threatened to add to their lead when Ben Fabbian drew a walk, but the inning ended on a heads-up defensive play. Will Matuszak attempted to steal home but was caught in a rundown, with freshman catcher Nate Franco applying the tag unassisted for the third out. Moorpark’s defense held strong, keeping the score in check as they headed into the next inning, looking for momentum to start scoring runs.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Eisenstein returned to the mound, attempting to hold the Vaqueros. His day ended with only allowing one run on one hit, making the score 6-0.
“I think that coming into the game I knew that we were down so I was chasing outs,” Eisenstein said. “I think that I performed okay, really just focusing on taking the series versus them a pitch at a time.”
Moorpark entered the top of the ninth, looking to extend the game. Nate Franco led off with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch, putting the Raiders in a position to score. After freshman center fielder Nate Kaczynski grounded out to first base, moving Franco to third, Moorpark had a chance to chip away at Santa Barbara’s lead.
Freshman second baseman Nate Lajoie was then hit by a pitch, setting up a crucial moment, and freshman first baseman Drew Paez delivered with a sacrifice fly to left field, bringing home Franco for Moorpark’s lone run of the game.
Santa Barbara won with a final score of 9-1 despite the Raiders’ effort to keep the game alive. Max Fernandez reflected on his team’s tough loss, acknowledging their struggles against a tough pitcher while highlighting his own performance.
“Overall I was able to get the team’s only hit of the game, we faced a great pitcher who shut us down for the most part it wasn’t our best game,” Fernandez said.
The Moorpark Raiders lost the series 2-1 after a 15-7 loss on Saturday, Feb. 22. Looking ahead, the Raiders will face off against the Ventura College Pirates in their next league games, hoping to regroup and bounce back with a stronger showing.
For more information on the Moorpark Raiders baseball team, click here.
