Pirates Take Season Series From Raiders

The VC baseball team defeated Moorpark 10-5 Friday afternoon to take the season series from their cross-county rivals.  Codi Santana was 4-5, including a double, with an RBI and a run scored while Ryan Coker had a single and a double with a run scored and two runs batted in.  Jackson Simonsgaard pitched a complete game for the win. 

The Pirates got things started off on the right foot with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. After Robert Stephan reached base on an error, Dylan Colman singled him to third base.  The Raider pitcher then made a throwing error to first, allowing Stephan to score, advancing Colman to second. One batter later, Tony Fonzo singled home Colman and VC led 2-0.

VC struck again with three runs in the third inning.  Santana singled, and Taylor Campos was hit by a pitch one batter later.  Bradley Fullerton then singled, scoring Santana, and when the centerfielder committed an error on the play, Campos also scored while Fullerton advanced to second base. Then Jordan Simon doubled, but Fullerton was forced to stay at third base, leaving runners on second and third with one out.  Coker then sacrificed to center field, scoring Fullerton before Simon was thrown out a third base to end the inning.  Ventura led 5-0 after three frames.

Ventura rallied with two outs in the fourth to plate another run.  Colman reached on an error, and came around to score on Santana's double.

Trailing 6-0, the Raiders showed some life in the top of the fifth inning, scoring four runs, but the Pirates answered in the bottom of the frame.  Campos singled to open the frame, and advanced to second, then third on consecutive groundouts.  He came around to score on a double by Coker, who then scored on Vinny Avila's single.

Ventura got two more runs in the seventh.  Fullerton and  Simon walked to open the order, and Coker singled to load the bases.  After a fly-out, Stephan's squeeze bunt to the pitcher scored Fullerton and Simon.

Moorpark plated one run in the ninth inning to set the final margin at 10-5.

Fonzo had a pair of hits with an RBI while Fullerton scored twice with one hit and an RBI.  Colman and Campos also scored two runs each for Ventura.

VC heads to Woodland Hills on Saturday April 11 for a game against Los Angeles Pierce College. First pitch against the Brahmas is scheduled for 1:00 pm.