2020 Ventura College Baseball Team News
Pirate head baseball coach Cole Mahoney-Bruer has had the "Interim" tag removed from his title. Mahoney-Bruer, who will enter his sixth season in the VC dugout in the spring, served as the interim head coach during last spring's covid-shortened campaign after four years as an assistant. He has played a role in helping 55 Pirate baseball players transfer to four-year schools, including 15 to NCAA Division I, during his time with the orange and black. He was the lead assistant for VC's 2019 Western State Conference championship team.
The Ventura College Athletic Department is pleased to report that they list 83 student athletes from 2019-20 who are slated to transfer to four-year institutions in the fall, as of August 31. Of those transfers, 60 plan on continuing their athletic careers at their new school, most of them with an athletic scholarship. The transferring student athletes will attend 58 different schools in 26 states around the country.
Nine players from Ventura College's 2019 Western State Conference championship team were honored earlier this spring by the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association as Academic All-State honorees. A total of 202 players from the 2019 season were honored by the coaches association for achieving at least a 3.5 grade point average during the last academic year.
Dennis Downey, a 1973 Ventura College alumnus and a member of the VC Athletics Hall of Fame, passed away peacefully in his sleep on April 20, 2020. A graduate of Ventura High School, he was a standout for the Pirates in football and baseball before transferring to Oregon State.
The 2020 Pirate baseball season may have been cut short by the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent nation-wide shutdown, but it was not short of drama that is unique to JC baseball. Late-inning heroics, wide run swings, and solid individual performances highlighted the Pirates' 2020 baseball season.
The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Board of Directors voted unanimously on Thursday that the remainder of the 2020 spring sports season will be canceled, the spring season of competition for approximately 9,500 student-athletes will be restored and face-to-face recruiting and recruiting-related travel is being prohibited immediately but will be re-evaluated next month. Ventura College is a participant in the CCCAA, and the college has moved to all online instruction for the remainder of the spring semester.
In accordance with a directive from the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA), Ventura College has indefinitely postponed all spring sports, including nontradtional seasons, due to concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak. The move was voted upon by the CCCAA Board of Directors on Thursday afternoon.
The Pirate baseball team scored a run in the bottom of the first inning Monday against Rio Hondo and made it stand up for eight more innings, giving up a two-run ninth to the Roadrunners in their 2-1 setback at Pirate Park. Gabe Baldovino singled to lead off the game and came around to score two batters later, and the Pirate pitching of Jacob Martinez, Omar Magana, Travis Nelson and Vincent Fashano held Rio Hondo scoreless beofe their rally in the final at bat.
The VC baseball team dropped the rubber game of a three-game set against Santa Barbara 8-3 Saturday afternoon at Pershing Park. VC gave up a two-run home run in the bottom of the first and were playing catch-up the rest of the day against the Vaqueros. Jacob Harris had three hits on the day for Ventura (7-12, 2-7), including a double and a triple, and Jacob Martinez belted out a single and a double with a run scored and one run batted in.
Pirate starting pitcher Blake Campbell threw 6.2 scoreless innings on Thursday as VC built a 6-0 lead over Santa Barbara before a Vaquero rally in the ninth inning fell short in Ventura's 6-5 victory at Pirate Park. The sophomore hurler allowed just three hits and struck out three in picking up the win. Jacob Martinez had two hits with two runs batted while scoring a run and Adrian Sandoval had a two-RBI double to lead Ventura (7-11, 2-6) at the plate.
The Pirate baseball team dropped a 6-3 decision at Santa Barbara City College Tuesday afternoon. The Vaqueros did most of their damage in a five-run third inning while Ventura was limited to five hits on the day, including a triple by Jacob Harris. Omar Gastelum and Alejandro Soto each batted in a run for VC (6-11, 1-6).
The Pirate baseball team rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday afternoon to walk off visiting Oxnard 3-2 at Pirate Park. The victory rewarded another stellar performance from starting pitcher Noah Proffitt, who picked up the complete game win allowing one earned run on seven hits with five strikeouts. Travis Vaala had a pair of hits, including a double, with one run batted in and one run scored and Riley Langerman recorded three hits on the day for VC (6-10, 1-5).
The Ventura College baseball team can't seem to catch a break. One game after giving up 10 runs, six in the first inning, the Pirate pitching from Blake Campbell and Jacob Martinez was superb through nine innings of shutout baseball, only to be undone by a lack of VC offense. Ventura (5-10, 0-5) managed just five hits in the game, falling at Oxnard College 1-0 in 10 innings Thursday.
The Pirate baseball team spotted visiting Oxnard six runs in the first inning, then nearly completed the comeback in their 10-9 loss to the Condors Tuesday at Pirate Park. VC (5-9, 0-4) had the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth, trailing by one run, but could not get the clutch hit to complete the recovery. Hunter Klingelhoffer had three hits, including a double, with two runs scored for Ventura. Elijah Maris recorded a pair of hits, one run scored and three runs batted in.
Ventura College starting pitcher Noah Proffitt pitched into the seventh inning, scattering seven hits and allowing two runs, one earned while striking out six Saturday afternoon at Cuesta College in an Luis Obispo. Unfortunately, the Pirate offense could not get anything going as VC took the hard-luck 2-1 loss to the Cougars. Hunter Klingelhoffer had a ninth-inning home run to spoil the shutout.
The Pirate baseball team battled back from an early 7-0 deficit, only to fall to visiting Cuesta 15-7 Thursday afternoon at Pirate Park. Gab e Baldovino had a pair of hits wit htwo runs batted in and a run scored for the Pirates (5-7, 0-2) an Hunter Klingelhoffer scored twice with a hit and a walk. Ventura used sveen pitchers in the game with Anthony Betancourt and Jacob Martinez throwing scoreless frames.
