Baseball

2011 Wrap-up

By Dave Loveton, sports information
Monday, June 20, 2011
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WSC champs reach Super Regional
Joyce named Southern Cal Pitcher of the Year

It was a memorable year for SBCC baseball as the Vaqueros used a strong finish to capture the WSC North title and advance to the Super Regional for the first time in school history.
Santa Barbara won 10 of its last 11 conference games to finish 15-5 and beat Cuesta by two games. The Vaqueros (24-17 overall) topped Riverside 2-1 in a best-of-3 Regional series at home, then dropped a pair of games by a total of three runs in the Super Regional at Santa Ana.
It was the first WSC title since 2007 and the first time that SBCC has won a playoff game.
Chris Joyce, a sophomore left-hander from Dos Pueblos High, earned All-American honors after going 6-0 in the regular season with a 1.54 ERA and 97 strikeouts, the second-most in California. He held opponents to a .162 batting average.
Joyce was named WSC North and Southern Cal Pitcher of the Year. He finished the season with a 7-1 record, 114 strikeouts in 84 innings and a 2.04 ERA. On March 10, he fanned 16 Moorpark batters in eight innings. He pitched a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts on April 14 in a 5-0 shutout of Cuesta that put the Vaqueros in first place to stay.
Santa Barbara’s pitching staff had the sixth-best ERA in the state (2.93) and topped all California schools with 312 strikeouts. The Vaqueros were 23-6 when scoring four runs or more and 1-11 when getting three or less.
DJ Gunderson (5-4, 2.08 ERA, 4 saves) was one of the top closers in the state and made the All-Southern California team. Ryan Thompson was named WSC North Coach of the Year.
The Vaqueros had 12 players on the All-WSC North squad, led by first-team choices Joyce, Gunderson, pitcher Kylin Turnbull, outfielder Colt McLaughlin and first baseman Joey Epperson.
Turnbull was picked in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Washington Nationals and Joyce was a 19th-round choice of the Cincinnati Reds.
Second-team selection Cody Giordano led the squad in batting (.344) during the regular season while Epperson hit .317 and drove in a team-high 23 runs. Robert Vickers went on a tear in the postseason, hitting .364 in five playoff games with two homers, nine RBIs and a .773 slugging percentage.

2011 WSC North Standings

                       WSC     GB   Overall
SBCC*#           15-5      --      24-17
Cuesta*           13-7      2      22-16
Hancock*         12-8      3      21-17
Moorpark         8-12   7      15-21
Oxnard           7-13    8      18-18
Ventura           5-15   10      12-23
* Earned Regional berth
# Advanced to Super Regional