February 1, 2018
W 11-7
By Kaivon Kealoha
Taft College hosted an exhilarating baseball contest against Allan Hancock College of Santa Maria on Thursday, February 1st. Nick O'Connor got the start on the mound, tossing just 2.2 innings and allowing 7 runs on 4 hits and 2 homeruns. The Cougars were down 7-5 for majority of the game, after Wesley Hebert's towering homerun out of left center field. Then a big 8th inning broke the game open and gave Taft a commanding lead.
Micah McCulley came out of the pen and tossed 5.1 shutout innings to earn the win. He allowed just 4 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 5.
In the 8th, Jayce Gardner singled to right field with two outs to drive in 2 runs, making the score 7-7. That led to another clutch at-bat by Jade Smoot, who stroked a bases clearing double for three RBI's. Smoot and Gardner stepped up after being retired in each of their first 4 at-bats in the game. He then went on to score himself, on a passed ball to make the score 11-7.
Zach Jones hit a solo homerun in the second. All nine of the Cougar starters had at least 1 hit. Hebert led the way going 2-for-3 with 2 walks, the homer, a double, and 2 RBI's.
Tait Ludwick came out of the bullpen in the ninth to preserve the score.