The Condors needed a win in the WSC. They got a boost from their first baseman, and pitching staff to prevail 7-4 over the Santa Barbara Vaqueros.
Oxnard is now 8-14-1 and 1-7 in WSC play, after ending an eight-game slide against SBCC on Thursday afternoon. "We really needed this one," said first-year head coach, Steve Hernandez. "Our guys work hard on every pitch, have a great approach, and we've just had a really tough stretch of ball games."
Niko Lima stole the show going 3-4 with a mammoth grand slam in the eighth inning to give OC the four run lead. Lima tied the game in the fourth (1-1) with a double to drive in Ramon Gomez. The ball hit the protective coping in center field against the prevailing Oxnard wind.
In the sixth inning, Lima tied the game again, 3-3, driving in Gomez again and Daniel Cabral.
The pivotal moment came in the eighth inning when SBCC walked Austin Maciel to get to Lima with the bases loaded. Lima turned on a fastball and put it into the soccer field over the left field fence to put the game out of reach.
Jason Gomez struck out five Vaqueros to earn the victory and provide Oxnard with some hope for Saturday.
They will host Cuesta College at 1:00 in the Nest.