2019 Ventura College Baseball Team News
The American Baseball Coaches Association is thrilled to announce the over 300 member college and high school programs from across the country who have been awarded the 2018-19 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award. For the second straight year, Ventura College baseball is listed among the honored teams from every level of college and high school baseball. VC achieved an overall grade point average of 3.24 for the entire 2018-19 academic year to earn recognition from the ABCA.
Coming off the historic 2019 season in which the the Pirates claimed their first Western State Conference North Division title in 13 seasons, and in which VC hosted a regional playoff series for the first time in program history, the Ventura College baseball program is proud to announce that 13 Pirates will move on to play at the four-year level in 2020. Five student athletes will compete at the NCAA Division I level, five will transfer to NCAA Division II, two will play NCAA Division III baseball and one will transfer to an NAIA school.
Ventura College sophomore TJ Foreman has racked up another award. The Moorpark High School product was awarded the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award for the Pacific Association Division, which includes community colleges in California, Oregon and Washington. The American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings Sporting Goods released the award winners last week, and Foreman becomes the second Pirate to attain the honor. Joseph Luna won the award in 2011.
Two former members of the Ventura College baseball team were selected in last week's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Both players selected were pitchers for the Pirates in 2017. Andrew Nardi was selected in the 16th round, 471st overall by the Miami Marlins while Justin Friedman had his name called by the Chicago White Sox in the 26th round, the 770th overall pick.
The Awards continue for the 2019 Western State Conference champion Pirate baseball team as TJ Foreman and Gabe Baldovino were each recognized by the American Baseball Coaches Association on the ABCA/Rawlings Pacific Association Division All-Region team. Both Foreman and Baldovino were awarded second-team all-region honors for community colleges in California, Oregon and Washington.
The Western State Conference champion Ventura College baseball team placed four players on the first-team All-WSC list while head coach Jimmy Walker was named co-Coach of the Year in voting by the conference coaches late last month. Outfielders TJ Foreman and Jacob Harris made the conference's top list along with shortstop Gabe Baldovino and starting pitcher Travis Weston.
Longtime Ventura College baseball coach Don Adams is headed to the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Adams, who was head coach of the Pirates from 1995-2017 amassed 738 wins during his tenure and led VC to the Western State Conference championships in 2006. He was also an assistant coach with Hall of Famer Gary Anglin for 15 seasons, helping the Pirates to the 1989 WSC crown. He, along with other Hall of Fame inductees, will be honored at the state association meetings in Fresno on Friday May 24.
Jackson Hickert saved his best for last. The Ventura College sophomore pitched a masterpiece in Game 2 of the Pirates CCCAA Southern California Regional against Long Beach, throwing an eight-hit complete game shutout over the Vikings to propel Ventura (26-17) into a third and decisive game in the series. Unfortunately, the Pirates broke down at the end of Game 3, giving up seven runs over the final two innings to drop a 12-3 decision, sending the Vikings into the next round of the playoffs.
When the playoffs begin, the margin of error shrinks. The Pirate baseball team found that out the hard way Friday afternoon, as a pair of VC fielding errors led to three unanswered runs for visiting Long Beach in Ventura's 3-1 loss to the Vikings in Game 1 of the CCCAA SoCal Regional Playoff Series. Travis Weston took the hard-luck loss on the mound despite pitching 8.2 innings and allowing just five hits and no earned runs. Zane Chittenden had a pair of hist for VC (25-16) including a home run.
On the strength of their first Western State Conference North Division title in 13 years, the Ventura College baseball team has received the No. 5 seed in the CCCAA Southern California Regional Playoffs and will be hosting a playoff series at Pirate Park for the first time ever. Ventura will host No. 12 Long Beach City College in a best-of-three set beginning at 2:00 pm Friday May 3. Game 2 with the Vikings will be at 11:00 am on Saturday May 4, with Game 3, if necessary, following Game 2.
One day after clinching their first conference title in 13 years, the Pirate basebal team traveled to Cerritos for a non-conference tilt making up a rained out game from February. TJ Foreman and Zane Chittenden each had a pair of hits ad Baylor Tovar had an RBI but Ventura fell to the Falcons, 4-1. Chittenden also started on the mound, giving up three runs, one earned, over four innings of work.
A swing and a miss on a ball in the dirt, a wide throw to first, a great catch and a spin to tag the bag. And with that the celebration began. The Ventura College baseball team ended a 13-year title drought Thursday by defeating Allan Hancock College 3-1 at Pirate Park, capturing a share of the Western State Conference North Division championship for the first time since 2006. Jackson Hickert pitched into the seventh inning, giving up one run while striking out six, while AJ Medrano, Gabe Baldovino and Junior Sandoval all knocked in a run to power the victory for the Pirates (25-14, 13-7).
Travis Weston had another strong outing on the mound, pitching seven innings while giving up three runs, two earned, while striking out five in the Pirates' 8-3 victory at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria Tuesday afternoon.Riley Langerman was 3-4 at the plate with two runs scored and a pair of runs batted in while Baylor Tovar had three hits, including two doubles, while scoring twice with an RBI. Jacob Harris was also 3-4 on the day. The Pirates (24-14, 12-7) are tied atop the Western State Conference North Division standings with Santa Barbara while Cuesta sits one game back with one game left to play.
The baseball adage says a walk is as good as a hit. Never was that more true than Saturday afternoon at Pirate Park where Ethan Balolong drew a walk with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to force in Conor Mormon for the game-winning run in VC's 6-5 victory over Taft College. That concluded a two-run ninth for the Pirates (23-14, 11-7), who earned theif fourth walk-off win of the season. Noah Bullard pitched two scoreless innings at the end of the game to pick up the victory.
On a "chamber of commerce" day at Pirate Park, the Ventura College baseball team put up a football score in their 17-7 win over visiting Los Angeles Valley. Jacob Harris finished a triple away from the cycle with four runs batted in, and AJ Medrano also had three hits, including a double, and thre RBI to lead the way. Zane Chittenden recorded just one hit, but had five RBI with three sacrifice flies in the game. Jackson Hickert alloowed one run on five hits, striking out seven over five innings of work to pick up the win for VC (22-14, 11-7).
The Pirate baseball team held off SoCal No. 6-ranked Glendale College 5-4 for a non-conference road win Tuesday afternoon. Junior Sandoval had two hits, including a double, and scored a run while Riley Langerman also had a pair of base knocks. TJ Foreman reached base three times, had two stolen bases and scored two runs. In the process, he set a new school record for career stolen bases and he is closing in on the single-season mark as well.
