Hancock Baseball Drops Conference Opener 5-4 at Santa Barbara

Daniel Curiel collected a career-high three hits and 3 RBI, but three errors in the eighth inning accounted for the difference as the Allan Hancock College baseball team dropped its conference opener 5-4 at Santa Barbara City College Tuesday afternoon. The Bulldogs fell to 0-1 in Western State Conference play and 7-11 overall. The Vaqueros improved to 1-0 in league and 10-7 on the season. Hancock will host Santa Barbara Thursday at 2 p.m.

The Vaqueros took the early lead 1-0 behind two singles and a ground out in the top of the first inning against Hancock starting pitcher Elijah Ortiz. 

The Bulldogs rallied in the top of the second. Wyatt Coll led off with a walk and moved to third on a one-out single from Kyle von Tillow through the right side of the infield. With two outs, Josh Harmonay doubled down the right field line to drive in Coll to tie it 1-1. Curiel stepped up and singled to left field allowing von Tillow and Harmonay to score and put the Bulldogs ahead 3-1.

Hancock padded its lead in the fourth. With two outs and nobody on, Harmonay singled to left to extend the inning. Curiel delivered with his second two-out hit, a double down the left field line to drive in Harmonay to put the Bulldogs on top 4-1. 

Santa Barbara scored once in the fifth to climb to within 4-2 against Ortiz. Wyatt Standley took over on the mound for Hancock in the sixth and quickly retired the first two hitters before he issued a two-out walk, hit a batter, and loaded the bases with another walk. Walker Armstrong entered the game for Standley and allowed a two-run single to Shane Hersh to tie it up 4-4.

Hancock threatened to break the tie in the eighth as Coll reached third with one out. But, he was stranded at third and the game remained tied. 

In the bottom half, Armstrong retired the first two batters. Mason Harvey reached third by virtue of two Hancock errors. Hersh hit a two-out grounder, but it was misplayed by the Bulldogs allowing Harvey to score what proved to be the game-winning run.

The Bulldogs threatened again in the ninth against David Appleby with back-to-back two-out singles from Curiel and Quinntin Perez. However, Appleby induced a groundball to end the game.

Hancock outhit the Vaqueros 11-8. Harmonay went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Curiel went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI. Quinntin Perez went 2-for-4, and freshman Dylan Maiden went 2-for-5. 

Ortiz received a no-decision after he allowed six hits and two runs in five innings. The left-hander walked two and struck out two. Standley went 2/3 of an inning and allowed two runs and two walks. Armstrong took the loss to drop to 1-4 after he allowed one run and two hits in 2 1/3 innings. The sophomore struck out three Vaqueros.