The Bear Cubs baseball team cruised to a 5-1 victory after a solid pitching performance against the Modesto Junior College Pirates April 14.

The game started as a pitcher’s duel between the two clubs, but Bear Cub starting pitcher Alec Rennard proved to have the upper hand.

Rennard pitched seven innings without allowing a run, and recorded eight strikeouts.

“I felt good about the outing,” Rennard said. I was able to stay in the strike zone, which put pressure on the other team to get hits.”

Starting Modesto pitcher Tyler Arnsberg shut down the Bear Cubs through the first four innings, not allowing a hit and only giving up one run.

The Bear Cubs scored their first run on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Jackson Leslie.

Arnsberg struggled in the fifth inning.

A leadoff triple by Leslie got the Bear Cubs started in the fifth. Santa Rosa Junior College got its second run on a RBI single by third baseman Jake Hedrick; first baseman Weston Bryan knocked in a run on a fielder’s choice, making it 3-0 SRJC.

The Bear Cubs later added on two more runs, stretching the lead to 5-1.

Bryan, Leslie and catcher Ryan Haug carried the offense, recording seven out of the team’s 10 hits.

“We definitely could have started the game off better offensively, but we got the job done,” Haug said. For future games though if we keep that same approach and we play like that it may not work.”

The Bear Cubs are now 10-6 in conference play, 21-10 overall and look to win the second game of their three-game series against Modesto at 2:30 p.m. April 16 in Modesto.