Curiel's Five Hits and 6 RBI Lead Bulldogs to 14-9 Win Over Oxnard

Sophomore Daniel Curiel collected five hits and 6 RBI to lead the Bulldogs' biggest offensive showing of the season as the Allan Hancock College baseball team defeated Oxnard 14-9 in a Western State Conference game at John Osborne Field on Tuesday. The Bulldogs improved to 7-6 in conference and 18-15 overall. Oxnard dropped to 4-8 in league and 10-21 on the season.

The Bulldogs struck for four runs in the bottom of the second inning. Ismael Hernandez scored the first run on a wild pitch, Chad Jones hit a two-run double, and Curiel stroked a RBI-double. The Bulldogs added another run in the third when Brendan Gomez hit a RBI-single to drive in Josh Harmonay and give Hancock a 5-0 lead.

The Condors responded with three runs in the fourth against Hancock starting pitcher Zach Torra.

The Bulldogs got two runs back in the bottom half as Curiel and Cordell Bowie delivered RBI-singles to give Hancock a 7-3 lead. The Condors rallied in the fifth for three runs to pull to within 7-6.

Curiel helped the Bulldogs rebuild their advantage with two-run singles in the fifth and seventh innings to push the lead to 11-7. Bowie followed Curiel's two-run single in the seventh with a run-scoring double, and Jake Shusterich added a two-run hit of his own to cap a five-run seventh and push Hancock's lead to 14-7.

Six Bulldogs finished with two or more points. Curiel went 5-for-5 with 2 runs scored, a double and 6 RBI. Bowie went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI. Dylan Maiden went 3-for-5 and scored three times. Jones went 2-for-3 with two walks, three runs scored and 2 RBI. Shusterich and Gomez both had two hits. Gomez finished with one RBI and Shusterich with two.

Hancock's 19 hits were the most in a single-game since the Bulldogs beat Fresno 14-7 behind 18 hits last April.

Torra earned a no-decision after allowing six runs and six hits over 4 2/3 innings. The freshman walked five and struck out two Condors. Phil Almanza earned the win in relief of Torra. Almanza went three innings, allowing four hits, three runs, two of them earned, and striking out four. Phillip Martin threw 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to preserve the win.

The Bulldogs will play at Oxnard on Thursday. First pitch will be at 2:30 p.m. Hancock will head to Moorpark for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday.