BARSTOW --- Porterville College freshman A.J. Rocha had a day to remember.
The first baseman out of Madera South High School went a combined 6 for 8 at the plate with 3 home runs and 6 RBI for the Pirates in a doubleheader split at Barstow Community College on Saturday afternoon.
After dropping the opening game 4-2, Porterville erupted for 21 hits on its way to a huge 23-5 win over the Vikings to close out the day.
The Pirates opened the contest with a seven-run first-inning, added four in the second, two in the third, and three in the fourth to jump out to a commanding 16-1 advantage.
Rocha went a perfect 5 for 5 with a walk, smacking a two-run home run in the second inning and solo shot in the fourth. He drove in four runs and scored three times on his own.
Justin Francis hit a grand slam on his way to 4 RBI. Devan Gomez (1 for 2, run) drove in three runs while Kaden Twyman (1 for 4, 2 run) and Keenan Shaw (1 for 2, BB) both had 2 RBI each.
Chris Ortega (3 for 4, 2 runs) and Stefan Leo (3 for 3, run, RBI) added three hits.
Starter Ryan Blondrell earned the win. He went five innings, allowing two earned runs and five hits. Blondrell struck out eight and walked one. Seth Madruga closed out the contest with three scoreless innings.
The big victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Pirates and came after a narrow loss earlier in the day.
Barstow scored two runs in the bottom of first to jump out to an early lead. But Rocha's first home run of the day, a solo shot in the third, got PC on the board.
The Pirates scored their final run in the fourth. Francis hit a one-out double and came in to score on a double by Gomez to tie up the ball game at 2-2.
But Barstow went ahead with a run in the bottom of the fourth and added an insurance run in the sixth.
Aaron Hernandez took the loss for the Pirates despite a strong starting effort. He allowed one earned run and five hits over five innings.
Porterville, now 2-11 overall, returns to action on Tuesday (Feb. 22) when the Pirates open Central Valley Conference play at home against College of the Sequoias at 2 p.m.
