Hancock Routs Imperial Valley 9-1 Behind Bower

Three hits apiece from Jacob Witkowski and Zach Nyman led an 11-hit attack to back Ryan Bower as the Allan Hancock College baseball team routed Imperial Valley 9-1 on Friday afternoon at John Osborne Field.  The 15^th ranked Bulldogs improved to 4-1, while the Arabs dropped to 0-5. The two teams continue their series on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Bower, a sophomore right-hander from Lompoc, struck out five and scattered three hits. He hit two batters and allowed one earned run. He improved to 2-0 on the season. In two starts this season, Bower has 15 strikeouts and a 0.69 ERA in 13 innings. He's allowed one earned run, one walk and just six hits.

Witkowski went 3 for 4 with one RBI and two runs. He walked once. Nyman, who started at second base, went 3 for 5 with two runs and one RBI. Brooks Fages went 2 for 3 and scored twice. Felipe Gonzalez went 1 for 1 with three walks, two runs and one RBI. The Bulldogs collected 11 hits and six walks in the victory.

Fages, a freshman from Temecula, raised his season batting average to a team-best .538.

Hancock struck first with three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Lompoc High School graduate Evan Aguilar hit a sacrifice fly to center field to allow Fages to score from third. Witkowski followed with a single to score Nyman. Cayman Hoggard reached on a two-out error by the third baseman, which allowed Witkowski to score. The Arabs committed three errors in the game that led to three unearned runs.

The Arabs scored their only run in the fourth inning to make it a 3-1 game, but the Bulldogs got the run back in the bottom half when the right fielder made an error on a ball hit by Hoggard that allowed Gonzalez to score from second base with two outs to make it 4-1 Bulldogs.

Hancock added three more in the sixth when Gonzalez, a sophomore from Santa Ynez High School, doubled home Witkowski. Hoggard grounded out to shortstop to drive in Ryan Welker, another Santa Ynez High School product. Left fielder Cameron Ketchen clubbed a two-out double to drive in Gonzalez to make it 7-1 Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs capped their scoring with a two-run seventh. Nyman tripled to drive in Fages and later scored when the shortstop miffed a ball hit by Aguilar.

Sophomore left-hander Zack Skipper threw two shutout innings of relief and struck out three for the Bulldogs. Freshman Troy Prober made his Bulldogs' pitching debut. The Righetti High School graduate struck out one in a scoreless ninth inning. Hancock pitchers limited the Arabs to four hits in the game.  The Hancock pitching staff has a combined 1.84 ERA.

The Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 41 to 10 so far this season.