Cards beat Dos Pueblos in home opener

The Cardinal varsity, led by six solid innings of pitching by Mike Ferguson, defeated Dos Pueblos Tuesday, 4-2. The varsity game was moved to Tom Moore Field at Harding Park, because school officials are apparently concerned about the lack of a tall fence on Sixth Street at the high school, to protect the homes there. JV games are now back at the high school field until further notice.Ferguson, team co-captain, started for Santa Paula and pitched six innings of two-hit ball. “Fergy pitched a great game,” said Coach Gerry Sandoval. “I was extremely proud of his command today. Mike threw a lot of strikes and our defense played well again.” John Ramirez was on the mound for the final inning for his first save of the year. Ramirez also belted out a two-run home run in the second inning and then hit a double in the fourth.Dos Pueblos started out hot. A triple in the top of the first inning led to a sacrifice fly and the first run of the game. The Chargers had a hard time after their big start. A couple of runners got on base in the next inning, but they couldn’t manage to bring them home.Ramirez slammed his two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning. The Cardinals scored again the bottom of the third when the catcher let a pitch get by him and a runner scored from third. Santa Paula got their final run of the game in the bottom of the fourth when Ferguson scored on a sacrifice fly by Mark Castaneda.