Lompoc scored several runs early and Cabrillo scored several runs late. But with runners on second and third and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Lompoc pitcher Cody Berryman got Trevor Sullivan to ground out to shortstop to hold off the Conquistadores.

The final out came after Lompoc right fielder Ryan Bower made a great fielding play, cutting off a double in the corner and getting the ball in - stalling the tying run at third base.

The Braves thus escaped with a 7-6 Los Padres League win at Donald McIntyre Field Tuesday afternoon, setting up a game for first place Friday against Santa Ynez.

Just another Cabrillo-Lompoc match-up.

“They are never easy - it's always a battle when these two teams get together,” said a relieved Lompoc coach Jim Allen.

Cabrillo coach Jonathan Osborne agreed.

“They're a lot of fun and are great games to play,” he said. “Over the years we've played some really good tough games with them.”

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With a 7-0 Lompoc lead, Cabrillo started to creep back into the mix with single unearned runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Kevin Harmon walked and scored on an error in the fifth with two outs and in the sixth Ryan McGinty reached on an error, went to third on a single and scored on a fielder's choice.

Then, in the bottom of the seventh, the Conqs almost took the game away.

With one out, Tony Elliot singled and moved to third on a double by Aaron Naputi.

After the second out, McGinty singled, scoring Elliot. Brian Engler followed with a double to right field that scored Naputi and McGinty to make the score 7-5.

Deuce Galvan walked, giving the Conqs runners at first and second. Harmon doubled into the right field corner to score Engler, but Galvan was stopped at third after Bower cut the ball off before it could reach the fence and threw it back to the infield.

Then with a two-strike count, Sullivan grounded out to end the threat.

“They (Lompoc) did a nice job defensively by having the right fielder deep, so when Harmon hit it down the line we weren't going to score,” Osborne explained. “So we never had the chance to bring in Galvan. Even with all the excitement - and he runs pretty good - the guy cut the ball off, fielded it cleanly and made a big strong throw back in the middle of the diamond.

“A lot of the time a ball hit into the right field corner will kick off (to foul territory) because of the spin off a right-handed guy and it didn't.”

With the win, the Braves moved to 7-3 in the LPL with one game left. Santa Ynez defeated Templeton 13-7, setting up the showdown. Cabrillo fell to 7-5 and needs help to get into the CIF playoffs.

Berryman breezed through the first three innings, retiring the first 10 batters he faced. In the fourth, Zach Pecyna doubled and Ryan McGinty singled to set up the first Conqs threat, but Engler lined into a double play to end the inning.

At that point of the game, the Braves led 3-0 with a run in the first and two in the third off of Cabrillo starter Naputi.

Kevin Erickson tripled with one out in the first and scored when Chris Mallory singled to left. In the third, a single by Erickson, a double from Mallory, a sacrifice fly by Dalton Rouleau and an RBI groundout by Scott Aguailar plated the two runs.

Engler, relief pitching in the fourth, was touched for a single run in the inning. Brandon Alonzo tripled in Richie Hirzel, who was hit by a pitch.

In the fifth, Lompoc scored three runs. Two sacrifice flies and an RBI single by Daniel Mallory brought in Chris Mallory who had walked and both Rouleau and Berryman after they had singled.

“We hit the ball well enough to win,” Allen said. “We had good approaches at the plate and really executed with runners in scoring position - and that was the main thing.”

With the good approaches early, the Braves were able to get enough runs for the win, even though it was tight at the end.

“You have to come out ready to compete every inning,” Allen explained. “Not just Cabrillo, but this league all the way up and down is tough.”

With the early lead, Lompoc was able to get just far enough ahead, something that was not lost on Osborne.

“It was nice to see us come back because in the first few innings we didn't play very well,” he said. “Lompoc did a really good job of getting guys on base, moving them over, getting a guy to third base with less than two outs and then getting them in.

“The difference in the game was they did a better job of getting guys on base.”

Allen is already looking towards the title game against Santa Ynez.

“We are in the playoffs for sure and now we have to try and win it,” he said. “We try to put ourselves where we didn't need help and we were fortunate enough to do that.

“We put ourselves a little behind the 8-ball losing to Templeton (last week). Hopefully we can come and get it Friday.”

The Lompoc versus Santa Ynez game begins at 4 p.m. at Dan Bodary Field. Cabrillo ends the regular season at Carpinteria on Thursday.

May 07, 2008