Santa Barbara Clinches WSC North Title with Villar's Complete Game Shutout

Posted: Apr 27, 2024

SANTA BARBARA, CA – On the back of Jake Villar's 3-hit shutout, the Santa Barbara City College Baseball team (18-4) clinched at least a share of the WSC-North title after Tuesday's 4-0 win over Hancock. | ORIGINAL RELEASE

Hoping to increase on their 9-game win streak, the Vaqueros had the right guy on the mound. By the game's end, Villar had a 2.32 ERA, a perfect 8-0 record, and a conference-leading 79 strikeouts.

After the first batter of the game singled, he advanced to second on a wild pitch. Villar ended the inning with a popup and two strikeouts, and no Hancock baserunner would be in scoring position for the remainder of the afternoon.

101 pitches, 9 strikeouts, just 3 hits and 2 walks later, Villar had the best start of his Vaquero career. He also induced 2 double plays, so there was even less traffic on the basepaths than that stat line will tell you. Furthermore, he did not tire late in the game, striking out the side in the 8^th and getting a strikeout and weak lineout after a 1-out single in the 9^th.

The scoring for the Vaqueros all came in innings 2 and 5. After Sebastian Arguelles singled and stole second in the 2^nd, Jordan Harris brought him home on a single.

Then, in the 4^th, Presley Kosciusko's 2-out double scored Ethan Watson and moved Vince Gamberdella to third. Arguelles, the next batter, singled both of them home to get to the 4-0 final score.

Villar is not the only Vaquero at the top of the conference leaderboard. Daniel Ghiorso's 2-for-5 day propelled his batting average to .390, 5 points above Jack Clothier of Cuesta for the batting title. Ghiorso still holds the lead in stolen bases with 30, too.

Sebastian Arguelles and Vince Gamberdella also had 2 hits for the Vaqueros. Jordan Harris and Zach Torres one-upped them, each reaching base 3 times.

The Vaqueros secured the title outright with a win against Moorpark in the regular season finale.