The Bakersfield College baseball team pulled to within one game of first place in the Western State Conference-South standings with a thrilling 7-3 come-from-behind victory over LA Valley College at Gerry Collis Field on Thursday.
BC trailed 3-0 before mounting a two-out rally in the eighth inning that netted seven runs and the Renegades their fourth straight victory.
BC came into the day trailing WSC-South leader Glendale by two games. The Vaqueros (24-8, 13-4 WSC) lost 8-7 at College of the Canyons on Tuesday.
The Renegades (21-11, 12-5 WSC) left nine runners on base, including the bases loaded in both the first and sixth innings before exploding for seven runs in the eighth.
Following brock Hallum's leadoff single, BC made back-to-back outs before having eight straight batters reach base safely.
Jassen Oliver and Brooks Douglass both smacked two-run singles during the scoring outburst.
BC batted around in the eighth, allowing Hallum to notch another single later in the frame.
He finished 2 for 4.
"The game is 27 outs long and we needed every one of them to get this win," BC coach Tim Painton said. "… We've been playing well. I felt like our offense did a good job of hitting balls hard early in the game but we had nothing to show for it. It was just a matter of getting a little bit of luck and being able to string some things together. We were able to do that in that eighth inning."
BC out-hit LA Valley (17-15, 8-9 WSC) 11 to 5. Tyson Brewer was 4 for 4 with a run scored for the Renegades.
Luke Andrews pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of starter Monty Stevens to earn the victory, the Renegades 10th in their last 12 games.
Despite getting a no-decision Stevens pitched brilliantly. He gave up three runs on three hits and walk in 7 2/3 inning pitched.
The 6-foot-3 freshman right-hander retired the first 14 batters he faced. His perfect game finally came to an end in the fifth when he issued a two-out walk to Daniel Acosta.
Moments later Acosta stole second and then scored on a line drive to left field by Salomon Salazar.
Stevens retired eight batters in a row after seeing his shutout bid end. But he ran into trouble again with two outs in the eighth, allowing back-to-back singles by Salazar and Colton Snyder that helped the Monarchs plate two more runs and extend their lead to 3-0.
However, BC stayed focused and battled back.
"I thought Monty Stevens did a really, really good job on the mound for us today and they took advantage of the three hits (against him) that they had," Painton said.
LA Valley starting pitcher Justin Goossen-Brown turned in a solid effort on the mound. He went 7 2/3 innings, surrendering three runs on eight hits and three walks.
LA Valley starting pitcher Justin Goossen-Brown turned in a solid effort on the mound. He went 7 2/3 innings, surrendering three runs on eight hits and three walks.
Bryan Duda (1-1) ended up being the pitcher of record for the Monarchs. The reliever allowed four runs, only one of them earned, in 1/3 inning pitched.
BC has four regular season games remaining. The Renegades travel to LA Valley on Saturday to finish off their three game series against the Monarchs before closing out the regular season next week with three games against Citrus.