Jittery Canyons Dwarfed by Towers

OXNARD â€”  Bobbled grounders. Dropped throws. Badly executed pickoff plays.

That’s either a prescription for disaster or a blessing, depending on your side of the outcome.

For Oxnard College, things couldn’t have worked out better in a 9-1 rout of College of the Canyons in a Western State Conference game Saturday at Oxnard.

The Condors (18-6, 11-2 in conference play), ranked 14th in the state, had ace Josh Towers on the mound against streaking Canyons (14-12, 11-3), which had won eight consecutive games.

Towers on the mound was probably a decent edge for the Condors. And when they came across a shaky defensive effort by Canyons (five errors)--typically a solid defensive team--the Condors cruised in a game that had promised to be more competitive.

Canyons went into the contest in first place in the South Division with a two-game cushion over Bakersfield. Oxnard started a half-game behind North Division leader Cuesta.

But Towers (7-1), a freshman right-hander from Hueneme High, shut out Canyons on two hits with four strikeouts through seven innings, receiving strong defensive help along the way. He was relieved by Adam Springston in the eighth, and Todd Rivers pitched the ninth.

Towers struggled with his control in the first two innings, walking three batters, but the Condors turned two double plays to bail him out. After that, he found the mark and was never in trouble.

“[Pitching] mechanics are everything,� Towers said. “I was leaving a lot of balls high. When the five-six-seven innings came along, I was grooving.�

So was the Oxnard offense.

The Condors pounced on fielding lapses by Canyons to score early.

Eric Farias led off the game for Oxnard with a grounder that second baseman Gabby Halcovich booted. Farias moved to second on Matt Buttell’s sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on Jake Spahr’s fly-ball out to right field.

Cleanup hitter Scott Foli knocked in the run with a single to right.

Oxnard added two runs in the second with the help of two errors that put Mike Muller and Josh Babauta on base with nobody out. Raudel Flores, batting ninth, blooped a single inside the right-field line to drive in Muller. Babauta scored on a passed ball.

“Nothing went our way early and it snowballed from there,� said Len Mohney, Canyons’ coach.

The Condors scored one in the third for a 4-0 lead and broke open the game with four runs in the fourth, chasing right-hander Nate Celusta (2-1). Shortstop Jess Olivares accounted for two of the runs with a line single to center.

“In this yard, you have to execute all the time ‘cause the ball doesn’t fly out of here,� said Pat Woods, Oxnard coach.

Jake Spahr was three for five for Oxnard, and Flores and Farias each had two hits.

Mike Oliver had one of Canyons’ three hits, a two-out single to right field in the ninth that scored Justin Bunch from third base and spoiled the shutout.