Despite 14 Strikeouts from King, Baseball Falls 6-3 at Home to LA Pierce

Starting pitcher Kyle King struck out a career-high 14 and Colby Barrick clubbed his fifth home run, but a late rally by LA Pierce resulted in a 6-3 conference loss for the Allan Hancock College baseball team Tuesday afternoon. 

Hancock dropped to 8-10 in Western State Conference play and 16-14 overall. The Brahmas improved to 4-14 in conference and 8-22 on the season. 

The Brahmas scored a run in the top of the first against King on a passed ball. Hancock tied it in the bottom half on a solo-home run from Barrick, his team-leading fifth of the season.  

The Bulldogs took the lead with a two-run fourth when Colton Studebaker and Justin Daraban delivered RBI-singles. Further damage by Hancock in the inning was thwarted by a runner thrown out trying to steal, and Daraban was thrown out trying to take an extra base on his single. 

After striking out the side in the first and second innings, King was cruising on the mound until the seventh inning. The left-hander recorded one out via the strikeout and walked two before he was replaced by relief pitcher Jason Terrones. The Brahmas continued their rally with two, two-run singles to take a 5-3 lead after their four-run seventh inning. 

Pierce added another run in the eighth against relief pitcher Skylar Bischoff. Jacob Tonascia struck out four Brahmas in one and one-third innings of relief for the Bulldogs. Four Hancock pitchers combined to record 19 strikeouts in the game. 

Hancock finished with six hits, led by two from Daraban. Kyle von Tillow, Barrick, Christensen and Studebaker had one hit each for the Bulldogs. 

King reached double-digits in strikeouts for the first time this season. He leads the team with 78 strikeouts this season in 64 innings. 

Hancock will return to action Thursday, April 14 when Oxnard visits Santa Maria. The game will begin at 2:30 p.m.