Barker's Homer Helps Seal the Deal vs. Barstow; Falcons Win 8-3

Coalinga, CA - Head coach Stefan McGovern and the West Hills College baseball team improved its record to 10-7 today after defeating Barstow College 8-3. Combining the last two games, the Falcons pitching staff recorded 15 scoreless innings, before allowing a run in the 7th inning.

The Falcons offense wasted no time getting to work as freshmen Brandon Hernandez and Evan Richards both singled to start the game. Alante Uribe the drove in the first run of the day with an RBI groundout to score Hernandez.
In the fourth inning Torin Miler brought home Jake Lorenzini with a single to the right side of the infield. Trent Bollman kept the Falcons going with an RBI single up the middle in the 5th inning to bring in Hernandez. After Bollman advanced to third, Torres then hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score Bollman. After six complete innings the Falcons led 4-0.

Barstow was able to cross its first run of the day in the seventh inning on an infield single off starting pitcher Chad Gotto. Gotto has won his last three starts, and worked in seven complete innings, allowing only one earned run off of six Barstow hits. Gotto moves his record to 3-1 on the season. 

In the 7th inning, it was Brandon Barker who gave West Hills insurance runs late in the ball game. After Alante Uribe hit a 2 out grounder to shortstop that was misplayed by Barstow, and Jeff Torres singled to center, Barker came up with two guys on base and two outs in the seventh inning. Barker took a 3-2 pitch over the right field fence, giving the Falcons the 8-1 lead. This was Barkers first homerun of the season and the teams sixth.

Barstow was able to plate runs in the eighth and ninth inning to make the score final at:       West Hills 8 – Barstow 3

The Falcons now look to keep the momentum from its past two games and use it in this week's upcoming conference opener. The Falcons will play host to the Reedley Tigers on Tuesday, March 7th, with first pitch set for 2:00 p.m.

For the latest on Falcons baseball, including news and score updates, follow @whcbaseball on Twitter.