Justin Guzman pitched seven-plus strong innings, and the San Bernardino Valley College offense supported him just enough for the Wolverines to win their fifth straight game, beating Barstow College 4-1 Saturday afternoon in an Inland Empire Athletic Conference game.
Guzman was matched inning for inning by Barstow starter Brenden Demuth, who went 7 1/3 innings for the Vikings, striking out 10 on a cold and blustery afternoon. But the Wolverines were able to make their chances count for the win.
SBVC started the scoring in the third. Ryan Callanan led off with a single, but was erased on a fielders' choice for Alec Castillo. Jason Lopez followed with a double to deep right-center, and Castillo raced around from first to make it 1-0.
Barstow tied it in the fourth. With two outs, Avery Kirkup reached on an error, and Tyler Sexton singled him to second. Michael Gutierrez singled home Kirkup for Barstow's only run of the game.
The Wolverines got the run back in the bottom half of the inning. Melchor Flores singled, and Anthony (A.J.) Mico was hit by a pitch. They both moved up 90 feet on a passed ball, and Flores scored on a single from Travis Booth.
The Vikings threatened in both the seventh and eighth, but SBVC got a key defensive play to end the threats. In the seventh, Barstow had runners on second and third with one out. Guzman struck out Justin Lamantia for the second out. Then, Guzman turned and threw to second baseman Ryan Callanan to pick off Jack Parker to end the threat.
In the eighth, after the first two runners reached, Guzman was replaced by Jacob Castaneda. With Brock McCormick up, Dawson Pitsor and Lucas Lefebvre took off from second and first, respectively. Mico threw to Flores at third with Pitsor hung up in between. Flores ran Pitsor back to second, tagged Lefebvre, who had reached second, then tagged Pitsor to erase both runners.
SBVC made them pay in the bottom half of the inning, with a pair of insurance runs. Guillermo Velasco doubled to lead off the inning, and Carlos Montes came in to run for him. After Flores flew out, Mico doubled to score Montes. Elias Pacheco, in his first at-bat of the game, singled Mico to third, and Parker Pund had the third double of the inning to score Mico.
In the ninth, Barstow put its first two batters on, so coach Jason Kounas brought in Lopez to close the door. He got the three outs to preserve the win.
In all, the Wolverines pounded out 11 hits - six for extra bases in the game. Lopez, who got the save, was 2-for-4 with a double, triple and RBI. Velasco was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, while Mico was 2-for-3 with a run, RBI and double.
Guzman went seven-plus innings, allowing seven hits, while striking out seven and allowing just the one unearned run.