Daraban and Terrones Lead No. 20 Hancock Baseball by First Place Santa Barbara 3-2

Justin Daraban delivered a two-run, bases-loaded single to break a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning, and Jason Terrones escaped a jam in the ninth to lead the Allan Hancock College baseball team to a 3-2 win at first place Santa Barbara City College on Tuesday afternoon. The Bulldogs, who are ranked No. 20 in the Southern California poll, won their third straight game to improve to 6-6 in Western State Conference play and 14-10 overall. The Vaqueros dropped into a tie for second place at 7-5 in conference and 10-14 on the season.

With the game tied at 1-1, Jacob Tonascia led off the eighth with a single to left-center field. Wyatt Standley entered as a pinch runner and moved to second when the Vaqueros made an error on a sacrifice bunt laid down by Kyle von Tillow. Carver Tippitt advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. SBCC opted to intentionally walk Zach Lampreia to load the bases with one out. After James Fitzmaurice went down on strikes for the second out of the inning, Daraban followed with a single through the left-side of the infield to drive in Standley and von Tillow and give Hancock the lead for good at 3-1.

Santa Barbara loaded the bases with one out in the eighth against starter Kyle King and reliever Isaiah Ramos. But Ramos, a sophomore right-handed pitcher escaped the jam by inducing two groundballs, including a force out at the plate.

The Vaqueros threatened again in the ninth and put runners at second and third with no outs after an error and a double. Terrones, a freshman left-handed pitcher, entered and limited the damage to one run. The Lompoc High School graduate induced a sacrifice fly to right field that scored one runner, and advanced the other over to third. Terrones struck out Alex Heim for the crucial second out, and ended the game by coaxing a groundball to first base to earn his first save.

King earned the win to improve to 3-3. The lefty struck out nine and walked four. He allowed just two hits and one run.

Hancock outhit the Vaqueros eight to four. Colby Barrick, Tonascia and catcher Tim Mahoney had two hits each for the Bulldogs.  Barrick extended his hitting streak to nine games.

Tonascia, who has a hit in eight straight games, drove in Hancock's first run of the game with a double down the left field line to score Barrick in the top of the first.

Santa Barbara scored the tying run in the second on a delayed double steal. 

Hancock will travel to Ventura on Thursday, March 31, for a 2:30 p.m. conference game. The Pirates are tied for second with SBCC at 7-5 in league and 14-10 overall.