Late Rally Falls Short, Hancock Baseball Falls 10-8 to SBCC

A furious rally in the bottom of the ninth inning ended with the winning run at first base as the Allan Hancock College baseball team opened the second half of Western State Conference play with a 10-8 loss to Santa Barbara City College Thursday at John Osborne Field. The Bulldogs fell to 4-7 in conference play and 11-17 overall. The Vaqueros improved to 16-11 on the season and 7-4 in league. 

Hancock trailed 10-4 to start the bottom of the ninth inning, but quickly went to work. Brandon Davis singled, Ryan Peinado was hit by a pitch and Nate Alcantar walked to load the bases with nobody out. Freshman catcher Nash Ackerman drew ball four to force in Davis to make it a five-run game. Daniel Curiel grounded into a double play that allowed Peinado to score to pull the Bulldogs to within 10-6. Pinch hitter Wyatt Coll and shortstop Josh Harmonay drew consecutive two-out walks to extend the inning. Walker Armstrong continued the rally with a RBI-single to drive in Alcantar to make it 10-7 and keep the bases loaded. Pinch hitter Cordell Bowie was then hit by a pitch to force in Coll to make it a 10-8 ballgame. However, Davis, who had led off the inning, flew out to center field with the bases loaded to end the game.

Hancock and SBCC had 13 hits apiece. Armstrong, Davis, Kyle von Tillow, Harmonay and Alcantar each had two hits for the Bulldogs. Armstrong finished with 2 RBI. The sophomore first baseman hit a RBI-double off the wall in right-center field to score Harmonay in the first inning to give Hancock an early 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs scored another run in the fourth against SBCC starting pitcher Connor Brewster when Davis reached on an error that allowed von Tillow to score to give Hancock a 2-0 advantage. 

SBCC rallied for three runs in the fifth inning to take the lead for good against Hancock starting pitcher Will Dowell.  The freshman threw five innings and allowed five hits and three runs, only one run was earned. He walked four and struck out three Vaqueros.

Freshman Phillip Martin allowed three runs and five hits over 1 2/3 innings of relief. He fanned three Vaqueros. Hancock pitchers Phil Almanza, Matt Hamon, Dylan Maiden and Wyatt Standley combined to finish the final 2 1/3 innings on the mound allowing three hits and four runs.

SBCC left fielder Tyler Rosen went 2-for-5 with 3 RBI, including a three-run home run in the eighth. Shortstop Wesley Ghan-Gibson had three hits for the Vaqueros. 

Hancock will look to get back on track Saturday at SBCC. First pitch will be at 1 p.m.