WSC BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Pierce, Cuesta Remain Tied for Lead

Mike Vanacore and Glenn Nahmias each had three hits Thursday as host Pierce College remained in a tie for first place in the Western State Conference baseball standings with a 16-10 win over Glendale.

The win left Pierce (20-12, 13-6 in WSC play) tied with Cuesta atop the conference standings with one game left in the regular season.

Trailing, 5-0, after Glendale’s first at-bat, Pierce immediately cut into the lead when Jim Wolf hit a grand slam in the bottom of the first.

Relievers Tony Holiday, Juan Soriano and Louis Birdt held Glendale (19-16, 11-8) to two runs through the final 6 2/3 innings.

Birdt earned his ninth save.

Cuesta 10, Oxnard 8--Chris Gaston went three for three with a double and two runs batted in and Bryan Lovelace had two hits and scored a run, but that wasn’t enough to get Oxnard past Cuesta.

Tim Salado took the loss for Oxnard (19-18, 11-8) as Cuesta remained tied with Pierce for the conference lead.

Ventura 4, Santa Barbara 2 (11 innings)--Freshman right-hander Sam Arroyo went the distance, allowed 12 hits, struck out a career-high seven and walked one in an extra-inning game at Santa Barbara.

In the top of the 11th, Mitch King and Tim Cornish were hit by pitches to open the inning. After they moved up a base on a sacrifice, pinch-runner Steve Philbrook replaced King and scored on a wild pitch.

Darrell McMillin then drove in Cornish with a single. Ventura, which moved into sole possession of sixth place, is 25-12, 10-9 in conference play. Santa Barbara fell to 9-10 in WSC play.

Canyons 8, Bakersfield 6--Jon Beauchemin stroked a two-out, bases-loaded double off the center-field fence to erase a 6-5 Bakersfield lead and cap a six-run ninth-inning rally for Canyons (18-17-1, 13-7) in a game at Bakersfield.

Shawn Bowen (3-2), who struck out the first batter he faced with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, retired the side in order in the ninth to pick up the win in relief.

For Canyons, Robert Barrena and Billy Horvat each had three hits. It was the last regular-season game for Canyons, which is one-half game behind the leaders.

Moorpark 3, Santa Monica 1--Billy Hall and Chris Intelkofer each hit run-scoring doubles in the seventh inning as Moorpark (15-22, 7-12) won at home.

John Boardman (3-3) got the win after eight innings of three-strikeout, three-hit pitching.

Rob Teasdale pitched the ninth for his seventh save. Santa Monica fell to 7-12 in conference play.