Legendary Baltimore Orioles' manager Earl Weaver had a simple philosophy when it came to winning baseball games: good pitching and three-run home runs.
The San Bernardino Valley College baseball team got both Thursday afternoon, and knocked off Chaffey College 4-1 for their second consecutive home win in Inland Empire Athletic Conference play.
The pitching came from Nathaniel Mendoza, who tossed his second straight complete game. While not as dominant as his outing last week against Victor Valley, he was solid on Thursday. He allowed six hits, while striking out six and walking five. He worked out of an early jam in the second, then held the Panthers to one run in the fourth after hitting leadoff batter Daniel Mendez with a pitch then allowing a double by Darren Taylor.
Meanwhile, the Wolverines were getting runners on, but not converting throughout the game. And it took a two-out error in the seventh to give SBVC the break that changed the course of the game. Mason Smith opened the inning with a walk, but was still there two outs later when Justin Robles hit a bouncer to second base. The ball bounded off the glove of Nathan Rodriguez, allowing Robles to reach to break up Derek Bogh. Bogh stepped up and launched a pitch from Mathew Flores over the white line in left field to give SBVC a 3-1 lead.
That was all Mendoza would need. Chaffey loaded the bases in the top half of the eighth, but Mendoza got Severiano Urias to ground out to Gage Brandt to end the threat. Then, in the bottom half of the inning, Brandt led off with a double off the screen in left-center and went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Martin Sanchez. Jason Valdivia followed with a single to score Brandt for the insurance run.
Bogh ended the game 3-for-4 at the plate, while Valdivia was 2-for-3.
