Oxnard Sweeps Past Moorpark, 3-2 : College baseball: Canfield pitches Condors into a first-place tie in Western State Conference.

A housecleaning is taking place in Western State Conference baseball.

Oxnard College has cleared out of the basement and traded rooms with former penthouse dweller Moorpark.

Oxnard, which tied for last place in the conference a year ago, beat host Moorpark, 3-2, Tuesday to move into a tie with Canyons for first place and keep Moorpark, a WSC tri-champion last season, stuck in the cellar approaching the midway point of the conference race.

Now that it has a room with a view, Oxnard is expanding its horizons.

“I think our guys, right now, can play with anybody in the league,” said Dave Taylor, Oxnard’s first-year coach. “Our goal is to get in the playoffs.”

Oxnard (16-10, 7-1 in conference play) has been winning with pitching and defense, and both offset frigid bats on a cold and sodden field Tuesday.

The Condors played errorless baseball, and Joe Canfield, a freshman right-hander from Portland, Ore., was in his element in the inclement elements and scattered eight hits in a complete game.

“If it had been raining, it would have been just like home,” Canfield said. “When I came down to California, I expected to be pitching in the heat every day. I must have brought some rain with me.”

Canfield (3-1) also brought some heat. Relying primarily on his fastball, he struck out five. Canfield was helped by a couple of Moorpark baserunning errors in the decisive seventh inning.

Oxnard had taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the inning when Bryan Lovelace drove in Mike Besser with a single, but Moorpark (9-12, 1-7) gamely tried to battle back. Pinch-hitter Jeff Sommer led off with a double and was replaced by pinch-runner Jesse Anguiano. Chris Intelkoffer followed with a single but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

Then, with Anguiano on third, Moorpark’s rally fizzled because of a failed suicide squeeze.

Billy Hall laid down the bunt, but Anguiano, who had missed the sign, according to Moorpark Coach Ken Wagner, hesitated long enough to be thrown out at home.

“If he’s running, we’ve tied the game up, and we’re still playing,” Wagner said. “That’s why we’re losing because we don’t make good decisions out there.”