Perhaps it was Kyle Petter’s spectacular
pitching performance that earned EC a 9-1 victory on its South Coast Conference opener at Mt. San Antonio on Tuesday night.

Or maybe it was the Warriors’ aggressive
offense that scored enough runs and ran the bases well enough to put the game out of reach for the Mounties.

But actually, it was both defense and offense that played a stellar game and just dominated Mt. SAC from the beginning.

“We played a really good game,” coach Nate Fernley said. “We came out focused and Kyle Petter pitched outstanding.”

The Warriors’ next conference game will be today against Compton College at 2 p.m. at Warrior Field.

Last year, the Warriors took the season series, 2-1, between the two colleges.
Petter, sophomore, pitched his third complete game this season, a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts and one walk.

“I just came out and pitched my game and relied on my catcher and he called the game,” Petter said.

Catcher Aaron Deguire, sophomore, went 1-4 with a two-run triple, his first triple
of the season, at the top of the fourth inning.

“We came out and we just smashed them,” Deguire
said. “We made them play EC baseball.”

It was a combination of errors and bad pitching by Mt. SAC that resulted in “seven walks” for the Warriors,
Deguire said, which later resulted in runs.

“We prepare to play like this,” Fernley
said. “They gave up the runs and we took
them.”

The Warriors started off their season swinging their bats hard, posting a 10-3 record.

Their opening game was against Rio Hondo, which resulted in a 9-2 win.

Following that game, the Warriors
had a seven-game winning streak, which was broken by a 5-4 loss to Cuesta College.

So far in the season, EC has scored a total of 96 runs and has given up 63 runs.

Offensively, the Warriors are being
led by Petter, who already has five homeruns and 11 RBI’s.

Drew Rodela, sophomore, has two homeruns and five RBI’s.
Chris Vopinek, freshman, who also has two homeruns and six RBI’s; and Deguire has one homerun and 12 RBI’s.

Petter and freshman pitcher Nick Turner are a combined 6-1 and have led the way for the Warriors with a combined ERA of 1.54.

Three of those victories have been due in large to Petter’s consistent pitching.

“I don’t think you ever expect a pitcher to throw a complete game, two-hitter,” Fernley said. “But I think we’ll take the win.”