Moorpark Still Alive in Race for WSC Title

Moorpark College baseball Coach Ken Wagner assumed he was playing for second best against Glendale on Tuesday.

“I thought it was over,” Wagner said of the Western State Conference’s tightening pennant race. “We’ve been slumping and things weren’t going right.”

However, several things fell into place for Moorpark on Tuesday. The Raiders defeated visiting Glendale and Canyons, which had an opportunity to clinch its 10th consecutive conference title, fell to Pierce.

Both games were decided by 13-6 scores.

With one game remaining, Moorpark stands at 21-12 and 14-5 in WSC play, a half-game behind conference-leading Canyons (14-4). Cuesta, which defeated Santa Barbara, 7-2, Tuesday remains in the hunt at 13-5.

Canyons will play host to Bakersfield (15-6, 8-10) on Thursday and will travel to Valley on Saturday; Moorpark, idle until the weekend, will visit Oxnard (13-21, 5-13) on Saturday.

Trailing, 4-2, Moorpark scored five runs in the fifth. Jason Jones hit a three-run homer in the inning, then Henry Schelb added a three-run shot in a four-run sixth as the Raiders took an 11-4 lead.

Jim Berman (7-1) picked up his seventh complete-game victory of the season and remained unbeaten in five conference decisions.

Mike Suarez, who has hit safely in 30 of Moorpark’s 33 games, rapped three singles, scored three runs and drove in two, and Darin Furlong was four for four with a run-scoring double.

Meanwhile, Kurt Lowry (9-5) kept Pierce’s slim playoff hopes alive with a complete-game victory in which he struck out six and walked four.

Hard-charging Pierce (16-19, 7-11) has won its past three WSC games to remain in contention for a berth in the conference playoffs.

Pierce broke the game open with a six-run eighth keyed by catcher Mike Shwartzer’s three-run home run to right.

Pat Fairly hit his 10th home run, a solo shot, to set a school single-season record. Fairly eclipsed the previous record of nine, set by Mark Brouhard in 1975.

Starter Lance Gibson (4-4) took the loss for Canyons, and Mike Kerber hit a solo home run and a double.

Staff writer Brendan Healey contributed to this story.