Vaqueros drop a wild one to L.A. Valley, 20-16

SBCC surrendered a 10-3 lead, then rallied to tie Friday's baseball game at L.A. Valley 16-16 with five runs in the eighth, only to see the Monarchs score four in the bottom of the eighth to pull out a 20-16 non-conference victory.

Six Vaquero pitchers gave up 20 runs on 10 hits and issued 22 free passes – 16 walks and six hit batters. Valley improved to 13-21 while the Vaqueros had their five-game win streak snapped and fell to 17-12.

The Monarchs score four in the fourth and nine in the fifth to take a 16-10 lead.

Joshua Perlmutter led the Vaqueros' 18-hit attack, going 3-4 with five RBIs and a two-run homer in the fourth that made it 9-3. Alex Holets went 4-6 with two RBIs, Phil Quartararo was 3-6 with an RBI double in the eighth and Benjamin Martz was 2-6 with a solo homer in the sixth.

Patrick Caulfield went 2-4, scored three runs and had four of his team's season-high nine stolen bases. He raised his team-leading batting average to .364 and he's No. 8 in the state with 21 steals in 26 attempts.

Holets, who started at shortstop, tied the game at 16 on a two-out, two-run double in the eighth, scoring Nicholas Trifiletti and Logan Pollack.

The Vaqueros will play their fourth game of the week and third in three days on Saturday when they host Oxnard in a WSC North contest at 1 p.m.