Solid Pitching, Defense Basically Lift Rio Mesa

By sticking to the basics, the Rio Mesa High baseball team came away with more than just your basic victory.

Pitching and defense did it for the Spartans in a 3-1 victory over Antelope Valley in a round-robin game of the Santa Barbara tournament Tuesday at Rio Mesa.

The pitching was handled by sophomore right-hander Ernie Borjas. Borjas was no Sean Douglass, but he didn’t have to be to beat the Antelopes’ hard-throwing pro prospect.

Borjas (3-0) used off-speed pitches to keep Antelope Valley off-balance, allowing five hits, striking out eight and yielding one earned run in five innings.

He was replaced by Jake Kor after surrendering a lead-off single to Eric Mobley in the sixth inning. Kor walked three but held the Antelopes hitless over two innings.

The strong pitching and timely outs in the last two innings, combined with just enough offense, gave the Spartans (12-1) their sixth consecutive victory and their second in two days over top teams in the region. Rio Mesa, ranked third by The Times, rallied from 6-0 and 7-2 deficits to beat fifth-ranked Camarillo, 13-8, in a tournament game Monday.

Against fourth-ranked Antelope Valley (10-3), the Spartans got the deciding runs on a two-run home run by Isaac Romero in the second inning, his second in three games.

“The guy’s a really good pitcher, but I’ve been hitting well lately,” Romero said. “We’re just as good a team as they are. We’ve just got to get the credit.”

Rio Mesa added an unearned run in the third inning.

Antelope Valley had pulled to within 2-1 in the top of the third on a home run to center field by Kevin Barlow.

But that would be it for the Antelopes.

Douglass (3-1), a 6-foot-5 senior right-hander who has committed to Pepperdine, suffered the loss in his first complete game of the season.

He gave up six hits, two earned runs and four walks. Douglass struck out nine, but the Spartans took him to a full count six times. Rio Mesa loaded the bases in the third and sixth innings.

“I was all over the place,” Douglass said. “When I threw strikes, they weren’t hitting, but it wasn’t my best. Some days you have it and some days you don’t.

“We didn’t play to our ability today. We just weren’t hitting at all. We just blew it.”

Antelope Valley had runners at first and second with one out in the sixth and with two out in the seventh but couldn’t score. Kor struck out pinch-hitter Jason Elizondo to end the game.