Cuesta Baseball picked up two wins over Long Beach during their Western State Conference bye-week.  Today, the Cougars added a victory over the Vikings, 12-5, to match Friday win, 11-7.  The twin victories over Long Beach, who is tied for second in the South Coast Conference, should help the Cougars in their bid to claim the WSC Crown and to return to the post-season.  The Cougars are now 21-13 on the season.

In today's game, the Vikings scored a run in their first turn at-bat, but the Cougars stepped to the plate and posted four runs on three hits when they got a chance to throw the lumber.  Unfortunately, Cuesta went hitless until the 6th inning, but still held a one-run lead, 5-4, thanks to Designated Hitter Steven Sanguinetti's bases loaded base-on-balls in the 5th.  The Cougars made up for lost time and scored six runs on six hits, plus two Viking errors, in the 6th inning to jump out, 11-4.  After the stretch, First Baseman Tristan Usher put an exclamation point on the Cuesta's pending victory with a solo shot for his team-leading 12th home run, while earning himself on the Cougars' all-time Top 10 for roundtrippers.  Usher also led the Cougars with three hits in the game, while also posting game-highs with four runs scored and three driven in.  Teammate Max Hunter, who split time at Shortstop and Leftfield, added two singles of his own as the duo accounted for half of the Cougars' ten hits in the game.  On the mound, Freshman Jack Stannard (pict) earned the decision after handing a seven-run lead to Relievers Chase Viale and Marc Byrum, who closed out the last two frames.  

Cuesta returns to their WSC schedule to close out the regular season with six games against the circuit. Next week the Cougars will be on the road Tuesday (2 PM) and Friday (2 PM) against Oxnard and Ventura, respectively, while also hosting Santa Barbara on Thursday (2 PM)