Canyons Rides Wind to Victory at Oxnard

OXNARD â€”  Chris Baker’s cheeks were chapped red by the frigid wind Saturday at Oxnard College.

Or was it the warmth of a victory embrace?

“Now that we won, I feel pretty warm,� Baker said. “But it’s cold out here.�

Baker pitched out of a chilling ninth-inning jam to preserve College of the Canyons’ 5-4 victory over Oxnard in a Western State Conference interdivision baseball game at Oxnard.

A relentless wind made players and spectators shiver for 3 1/2 hours before Baker blew a fastball past Shawn Fossen for a game-ending strike, stranding the tying run at third.

After a brief celebration, the Cougars (14-8, 6-7 in conference play) packed quickly and headed for their cars and vans.

“We’re all freezing,� Canyons Coach Len Mohney said. “But that’s a fine win for us. We held in there and stayed involved.�

The loss was a cold slap in the face for Oxnard, which committed five errors--two during Canyons’ four-run ninth.

Oxnard Coach Pat Woods, who arose at dawn to purge water from the rain-soaked field, sat quietly in the dugout and muttered an expletive.

“Five . . . errors,� Woods said. “I don’t think we’ve made more than one error [in a game] all season.�

Oxnard (16-6, 9-3) entered the week a game behind first-place Cuesta in the WSC North Division. The Condors, however, have lost two of their past three games.

“I’m concerned,� Woods said. “I don’t know if we’re working as hard as we once did.�

Oxnard rallied from a 1-0 deficit with three runs in the fifth inning off freshman left-hander Jeremy Shields.

Matt Pitstick singled to drive home Jack Wilson and Jess Sanchez followed with a two-run home run inside the right-field foul pole.

In the eighth, Pitstick doubled against Wayne Mahaffey and scored on a single by Sanchez.

Canyons erupted in the ninth, parlaying four walks, two errors and a single into four runs. Designated hitter Albert Palma lined a single to left field to drive in Matt McAfee with the deciding run.

Pat Youngern (0-1), who replaced Carlos Morales in the eighth, was charged with the loss. Mahaffey (3-0) earned the victory.

Baker, academically ineligible last season, entered in the ninth and notched his first save. Baker allowed a leadoff single, then retired the next three batters.

“It was a real problem getting loose in the pen,� Baker said. “But I got going all right. This was a good morale-builder for me. It felt good to be out in that situation again.�

Canyons scored a run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Jesse Daggett that drove in Nick Katzenstein.

Third baseman Brent Egan and shortstop Jack Wilson made errors to aid Canyons’ ninth-inning rally. Youngern hindered the cause with a wild pitch that allowed Jesse Daggett to score.

“We couldn’t play catch with it today,� Woods said.

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* COLLEGE ROUNDUP: C18