Baseball Erupts For Season-High 18 Hits In Rout At Barstow

Going back to early February, the Pasadena City College baseball team's offense had struggled to put runs on the board. The Lancers averaged just 4.2 runs during a 12-game stretch and the lack of offense showed in the results, just a 5-7 losing record between Feb. 5 through March 4. 

On Saturday, the offense awoke in banging out a season-high 18 hits and matching a season best in runs scored in a 17-6, non-conference rout at Barstow. 

Pasadena (9-10 overall) led early 3-0, but Barstow surprisingly knocked out Lancers ace Jonathan Bracamonte with three runs in the second and then a Josh Vaughn solo home run that put the Vikings ahead 4-3 in the third. PCC tied it in the fourth, then took the lead on a 2-run homer by Jacob Escamilla in the fifth. 

The Lancers would score three in that frame, and four in both the sixth and seventh to put the well out of reach. 

Escamilla knocked in five RBI overall, batting 3-for-4 with a walk and he led a host of PCC batters with big performances. Both Omar Cisneros (three runs) and Chris Torres (three RBI, double) were 3-for-6, Joaquin Salcedo 3-for-4 and two RBI, Logan Parker 2-for-4 with two doubles and two ribbies, and Ricky Gonzales 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. 

AJ Flores relieved and pitched six innings of 4-hit ball (two unearned runs), walking only one batter and striking out five to up his record to 2-3.

The Lancers had also put up 17 runs in a win over Victor Valley back on Feb. 3.

In a 9-5 loss at LA Pierce on Mar. 4, Cisneros went 3-for-5 with three RBI and Escamilla batted 2-for-4 with a run-scoring double. Xiovany Ochoa added a triple. In the sixth, a Cisneros RBI groundout tied it at 5-5, but Pierce plated three in bottom of the inning to pull away. The Lancers had a home game v. Pierce postponed on Friday due to a flooded diamond and that contest has yet to be rescheduled. 

Pasadena is 3-3 in South Coast Conference play and returns to league play in a 3-game series next week v. Compton.