After losing to Moorpark last week, City College bounced back with a 6-2 win to split the two-game series Tuesday at Pershing Park.
The series against the Moorpark Raiders marked the start of conference play for City College baseball after finishing with a 3-5 non-conference record.
“It was nice to come back and get a win,” said first baseman Nicolas Bereaud. “Hopefully it translates into the rest of the second season.”
Sophomore Bereaud continued his hot streak, going 3-3 with three RBIs and a triple. Through the first 10 games of the season, Bereaud has lead the team with 15 RBIs and he had three of the five City College hits on Tuesday.
Moorpark starting pitcher Trevor Weston struck out eight batters while only giving up two hits in his six innings of work. However, the Vaqueros were able to move four runs across the plate against Weston.
“Hits don’t win games,” said head coach Jeff Walker. “Runs win games.”
The Raiders got on the board first, but City College answered by scoring on back-to-back plays at the plate in the second inning.
Outfielder Tyler Rosen hit a triple down the right-field line that brought Bereaud home all the way from first. The throw appeared to be on time but the catcher dropped the ball when he went for the tag.
Tyler Rosen (No. 28) hit an RBI triple to get to third and scored on sacrifice fly by Nicolas Allman Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 23, at Pershing Park. Rosen slid underneath the tag at home plate giving the Vaqueros a 2-1 lead.
The very next at-bat, City College outfielder Nicolas Allman brought Rosen home with a sacrifice fly. The throw pulled the catcher a couple steps up the third baseline and Rosen slid in safely underneath the tag.
“We keep chipping away,” Rosen said about the offense. “Even if the results aren’t there right away.”
In the fifth, with the game tied again, City College regained the lead despite not having a hit in the inning. After a one-out walk, outfielder Morgan Lomax stole second base and advanced to third thanks to a throwing error.
The very next pitch was a pop-fly that was just deep enough to score Lomax, giving the Vaqueros a lead they didn’t lose again.
Both Moorpark runs came from the bat of sophomore Dalton Duarte, who hit double and solo home runs off of City College starting pitcher Ian Clark. However, when Walker elected to go to the bullpen to start the fifth, Duarte and the Raider bats went quiet.
City College pitchers Austin Blessing and Caleb Duhay combined to give up just two hits in the final four innings to secure the win.
“Throwing four innings of zeroes in relief, obviously pretty big,” Walker said.
The Vaqueros are confident moving forward into the rest of their conference schedule.
“If we keep rolling the way we’re going and we do the all small things right then in the big picture I think it’s going to end up pretty good in our favor,” Bereaud said.
Next the Vaqueros head into a two-game series against Oxnard, with the first at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25 at Pershing Park. The second game is at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27 in Oxnard.
