Hancock College scored six runs in the first inning, still led by six runs after two and then Moorpark College began chipping away at the Bulldogs/ lead.

Then Hancock relief pitcher Jacob Kougl came in, and the Raiders stopped chipping.

Kougl entered for Hancock starter Jerimiah Ventresca with one out in the fifth inning. He allowed no runs and only three hits the rest of the way, and the Bulldogs defeated the Raiders 9-4 at Hancock Saturday in a Western State Conference North Division game.

Hancock is 4-1 in the WSC North and 7-4 overall. Moorpark is 1-4, 3-9. The teams play again at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Moorpark.

Kougl threw 47 pitches in his 4 2/3 innings of work. He finished off the Raiders on five pitches in the ninth.

"That/s the way I/ve always been 7 get a lot of ground ball outs," the sophomore right hander said after he earned the win. "I/m a low pitch count guy."

"Our bullpen has been excellent all year," said Hancock coach Chris Stevens. "It/s been (Kougl), (Andrew) Jones and (Todd) Nelson. I always give them the ball with a lot of confidence."

Kougl came into the game with the Bulldogs leading 7-4 and one out in the fifth. He caught Tyler Carr/s hard line drive and then shackled the Raiders the rest of the way.

Hancock/s hitters liked what they saw from Moorpark starting pitcher Kyle Ayers.

The home team/s first four batters had hits. Pat Dolan singled in Chuy Frausto with the first run of the game. Ben Hodges and Jason Carlson hit consecutive RBI doubles and then Marc Verbryke, a sophomore Righetti graduate, smacked a bases-clearing double to center field.

Ayers was "pretty straight," with his fastball Hodges, who had three hits and doubled twice, said. "Then he/d try to go backdoor with the curve, but it wasn/t working."

Ayer didn/t make it out of the first inning. Bobby Martinez, his reliever, had more success. Hancock had 10 hits but only three runs of Martinez in 4 2/3 innings.

The Bulldogs wound up with 16 hits. Frausto, Dolan, Carlson, Verbryke, Jimmy Van Ostrand and Kory Langwell all had two.

The Bulldogs had been scoreless since taking a 7-1 lead into the top of the third. Finally Van Ostrand swatted a calf high pitch for a ground single to left field to score Hodges.

Carlson scored when Van Ostrand, who had gone to second base on a walk, held up an inning-ending double play long enough for Carlson to score on the play.

"We/d been struggling on offense the last two or three games, even the games we/d won," Stevens said. "So we made that a point of emphasis (Friday)."

Besides his team/s hitting, Stevens also liked what he saw from Hancock starting pitcher Jerimiah Ventresca. Ventresca allowed single runs in the second, third, fourth and fifth before leaving for Kougl.

"Jerimiah bent but he didn/t break," Stevens said. "That/s what we want from our pitchers. The single run innings, we can live with. It/s the multiple run innings we want to stay away from."

Cuesta 13, Ventura 7

VENTURA 7 Cuesta starting pitcher Joe Gulden struck out 10 batters, including the side in the second, third and fourth innings as the Cougars improved to 2-3 in the WSC North and 4-7 overall.

St. Joseph graduate Tim Regnier hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning for Cuesta, and Wes Pereirra hit a solo home run for the Cougars in the ninth.

Cal Poly 5, UC Santa Barbara 4

SANTA BARBARA 7 The Mustangs, leading 5-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, kept just enough of their margin to win.

Cal Poly improved to 19-8-1 with this Big West Conference win. The Gauchos (11-10) came up short after a three-run rally in the seventh.

Brandon Roberts went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs for Cal Poly.

Softball

Cypress 8-9, Hancock 0-1

CYPRESS 7 The Pirates were too much for the Bulldogs (3-10) in this non-conference doubleheader.

"I think they/re ranked fourth or fifth in the state," said Hancock coach Eddie Grose.

Lena Felix singled in Hancock/s only run of the day. Vanessa Padilla singled for Hancock/s only hit off Cypress pitcher Vanessa Boril in the opener.

March 14, 2004