Indians win at San Luis to keep within a half game of Santa Barbara

Indians 3B Blake Crosby leads the team with a batting average well over .370 and has been the Indians hottest hitter of late

(July 24) - The Santa Maria Indians continued their dominance of the San Luis Obispo Blues this season with a 5-2 win at Sinsheimer Stadium in SLO. Leading the way, not surprisingly, was 3B Blake Crosby who has been on an absolute tear since the NBC CCST Tournament at Elks in the beginning of July. Crosby won the MVP of that tournament going 12-25 (.480) with 8 RBI and 8 Runs scored, and has not stopped since then.

Crosby lead the Indians offense with a 2-4 night and 2 RBI in the 5-2 win over the CCL rival SLO Blues. Starting pitcher Holden Sprague pitched well again as things continued to gel for the Indians, entering their most crucial week of the season which ends with 3 league games against the Santa Barbara Foresters (Friday/Sunday @ SB, Saturday @ Elks Field) which will undoubtedly be for the CCL championship. The Foresters and Indians are both headed to Wichita, and could very well meet for the title

Sprague threw 6 innings and giving up 2 runs on 8 hits. While the Blues bats hit him, Sprague managed to hold the Blues to two runs through his final 4 innings. Micah Spencer pitched three effective innings of relief, a positive for the up and down righty. Spencer came out of the gates this summer looking like he could be the Indians ace, but hit a stretch of bad outings. His last two appearances look like the Micah Spencer who held California JUCO hitters to well under a .200 batting average last season at Modesto JC.

The Indians jumped on the board in the first inning with 2 runs on a Blake Crosby groundout and a Will Campbell RBI single. The Blues drew within a run in the first and tied the game on an RBI single by Mike O'Connor in the second inning. In the 5th inning the Trbe broke open the tie on a Blake Crosby RBI single and a Will Campbell sacrifice fly for a 4-2 lead.

Campbell had a good night as well, going 1-4 with 2 RBI. The Indians tacked another run when pinch hitter Wes Dorrell reached on a strikeout that got away from the catcher. Dorrell advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout by 1B Josh Meagher. Tyrese McDaniel pinch hit for RF Ben Caple and was intentionally walked to get to Chase Leavitt who had walked twice and struck out. McDaniel, not known for his speed, took off for second base and C Miek Pitguburrgo's throwing error brought in Dorrell from third to give the Indians a 5-2 lead. Spencer closed the door for the save.

The win brought the Indians to 37-15 overall and 15-5 in California Collegiate League with 4 games left before heading to Wichita. The Indians wrap up the season against the Blues Thursday night in Santa Maria and then play a 3-game set against the Foresters, Friday at 5 in Santa Barbara, Saturday at 5 in Santa Maria and then Sunday at 1 to wrap up the season. This coming Monday the Tribe heads to Wichita, KS for the NBC World Series.