Four straight wins for Pirates, sweep West Hills with 7-1 win

Alex Sarmienta went 3-for-5 with 3 RBI to lead a surging Porterville College offense as the Pirates rolled to their fourth straight win and a three-game sweep of West Hills College Coalinga on Saturday, taking the finale by a score of 7-1.

Saturday's win in Coalinga improved PC to 5-26 overall and 4-8 in the Central Valley Conference.

Porterville was all over West Hills starting pitcher Gehrig Taylor early as the Pirates scored a run in the first, one in the second, and two more in the third to go ahead 4-0. Sarmienta's RBI double scored Jose Narvaiz in the third to make the score 3-0 and was followed by Nicolas Portillo's single that brought in Sarmienta.

Porterville put the game out of reach with a three-run, eighth-inning. Sarmienta came up with the big hit of the rally, a two-run single that drove in Andres Garza and Narvaiz.

Alfredo Vasquez was excellent on the mound for the Pirates to get the win. He went seven innings and allowed one run and five hits. Vasquez struck out four and walked one.

Jared Hewes closed out the victory with a pair of scoreless innings. He gave up one hit and struck out two.

Garza also had a good game at the plate, going 2-for-3 while scoring a pair of runs.

Porterville will look to keep the winning momentum going when the Pirates open another three-game CVC series on Tuesday (April 10) against Reedley College. The opener is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Porterville, Game 2 is at Reedley on Thursday (April 12) at 2 p.m. with the finale back at PC on Saturday (April 14) starting at 1 p.m.