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The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

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The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

The Channels

City College can’t pierce Knights’ armor in 4-1 loss to San Diego

Kyle+Froemke+%28No.8%29+lands+a+solid+hit+that+results+in+a+single+on+Saturday%2C+Feb.+8%2C+2020%2C+at+Pershing+Park+at+City+College+in+Santa+Barbara%2C+Calif.+The+Vaqueros+lost+to+the+Knights+4-1.
Jesus Villafranco Perez
Kyle Froemke (No.8) lands a solid hit that results in a single on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020, at Pershing Park at City College in Santa Barbara, Calif. The Vaqueros lost to the Knights 4-1.

Vaquero hitters failed to score more than one run in City College’s 4-1 loss to the San Diego Knights on Saturday at Pershing Park. 

“[We] can’t generate any type of offense,” said Head Coach Jeff Walker. 

The Vaqueros’ one run was an improvement from Friday, where they fell to the Knights 1-0. 

City College has now lost three in a row, with its last victory coming in game one of a doubleheader against Saddleback on Feb. 1. 

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The Vaqueros first got on the board against San Diego when designated hitter Alonzo Rubalcaba singled to left, scoring first basemen Owen Crevelt. 

Sebastian Kirchner started the game for City College and went one and two-thirds innings, striking out four, walking three and allowing one earned run.

Matthew Strother came on in relief of Kirchner, going five and one-third inning, allowing two earned runs on three hits. 

“[The] pitchers did a good enough job, [but there were] too many balls through the five and six-hole,” said Walker. 

Two of the Knights’ four runs came on singles that the third baseman and shortstop failed to turn into outs. 

The Vaqueros only struck out seven times, but the San Diego pitching staff held them to one walk. 

“I thought our two-strike hitting was better today,” said Walker in reference to City College’s 12 strikeouts on Friday. 

Walker also said that they didn’t have enough team at-bats.

The Vaqueros tied their season-high with five errors on Saturday, giving the Knights’ too many opportunities to get into scoring position.

“We can’t win games when we make that many errors,” said right fielder Chase Rowe. 

The Knights got on the board in the second inning when Jack Early scored after Hector Carreon reached first base on an error by City College third baseman Trevor Davis. 

Saturday’s game was similar to the Vaqueros’ loss on Friday, where hitters were not able to figure out San Diego’s pitchers.

City College failed to bring runners around to score, with six men left on base. 

The most energetic part of the game for the Vaqueros’ was each batter’s walk-up songs, providing a soundtrack to an otherwise quiet day. 

City College has the potential to unload on the opponents’ pitching staff. The Vaqueros beat Saddleback 13-10 last Saturday and West LA 11-2 the week before that, but haven’t been able to do so lately.

Going into Sunday’s finale against the Knights, Walker said the team has to try to “not turn it into a snowball fight on the defensive end.” 

Missed catches and misplaced tags led the Vaqueros to rack up many errors and it could easily hurt them again on Sunday. 

“[We have to] keep the energy up,” said Rowe. “[We have to] come out of the gate, try and score first and keep putting runs on the board.”

The Vaqueros return to the field at noon on Sunday to face the Knights one final time before hitting the road on Thursday. 

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