Hancock Baseball Drops 3-1 Conference Game with Cuesta

A clutch base hit eluded the Allan Hancock College baseball team to stymie a rally in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Bulldogs dropped a 2-1 pitchers' duel against Cuesta College on Thursday afternoon in Santa Maria.

The Bulldogs fell to 1-2 in Western State Conference play and 5-6 overall. Cuesta improved to 1-0 in conference and 7-4 overall. The Bulldogs will play at Cuesta on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Tim Mahoney led off with a single. Carver Tippitt went in to run for Mahoney, who finished two for four in the game. Hunter Christensen followed with a double to the gap to put runners at second and third with no outs against Cuesta pitcher Dan Beavers. However, Kyle von Tillow struck out. Pinch hitter Colton Studebaker popped out to the first baseman, and Zach Lampreia grounded out to shortstop to end the threat and the game.

Hancock struck first in the second inning when James Fitzmaurice led off with a double. He moved to third when Mahoney delivered a single. von Tillow hit a sacrifice fly to center field allowing Fitzmaurice to tag up and score to give Hancock a 1-0 lead.

Cuesta took the lead for good in the third against starter Kyle King. Aided by an error on a sacrifice bunt, Garrett Giovanelli hit a RBI-single and TK McWhartor delivered a two-out RBI-single to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead.

Cuesta added another run in the sixth against King. 

Hancock outhit the Cougars seven to six.

Mahoney led the Bulldogs with two hits. von Tillow, Christensen and Fitzmaurice each had one double. Jacob Tonascia legged out a triple and Colby Barrick added a single.

King dropped to 0-2 on the season despite another solid start. The left-handed pitcher allowed five hits, three runs, only two of them were earned. He walked five and struck out five.  Matt Reynolds threw three-shutout innings of relief. He walked two, scattered one hit and struck out three.