Nelson, Ide Power Vaqueros To Important Cuesta Victory
By Jimmy Friery
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara City College Baseball team (20-14, 15-5) beat Cuesta (19-17, 11-9) at home on Thursday, 5-3, clinching the season series over their rivals up north and keeping pace at the top of the Western State Conference (WSC) North standings.
Two-way star Wylan Nelson pitched eight innings, striking out nine and allowing just two earned runs to get the win. He also helped his cause by walking twice and scoring a run in the crucial victory.
Cole Ide also helped Nelson out with a pair of two-run homers, both to take the lead. With that, the Hawai'i native (nine) overtook leadoff hitter William Matuszak (eight) for the team lead in the category.
Nelson worked a scoreless first before Lucas Carlisle's two-out double extended the inning, allowing Ide to hit his first homer of the day and give the Vaqueros an early 2-0 lead.
In the third, Cuesta scored three—two earned—thanks to a walk and two singles, all with two outs. After surrendering the lead, Nelson led off the bottom half with a walk. A few batters later, Ide homered for the second consecutive at bat to retake the lead for Santa Barbara, now 4-3.
From there, Nelson settled in on the mound. He faced one batter above the minimum over innings four through eight, striking out the side in the seventh and getting two punchouts in the eighth.
A walk, hit-by-pitch, single, and Matuszak's bases-loaded walk tacked on what would be the final run of the game in the bottom of the fifth.
Cedar Cline came on for the save in the ninth. He worked a one-two-three inning, striking out the final two batters to secure the important win.
The Vaqueros earned bragging rights over their San Luis Obispo rivals; Thursday's win means that they won three out of the four games between the teams in 2026. Furthermore, the Vaqueros are four games ahead of fourth-place Cuesta with four games to play, so they have already secured a higher place in the conference standings.
Santa Barbara travels to Oxnard on Friday at 2 p.m. to round out the season series with the Condors, having won all of the previous three meetings this year.