Pirates Hold Off Bulldogs in Home Victory

The visiting Allan Hancock College scored the first five and the final four runs of the game. It was the 11 runs in the middle scored by the VC baseball team that made the difference, however, as the Pirates held off the Bulldogs 11-9 at Pirate Park on Thursday. Ventura's top three batters JR Godinez, Reiss Calvin and John Oleson all recorded two runs batted in to lead the way while Ramon Torres hit a home run and scored twice. Jared Hughes pitched six-plus innings of relief to pick up the win on the mound.

The Bulldogs got the upper hand quickly, scoring four runs in the op of the first and another in the top of the second. Torres got the Pirates (21-17, 14-18) going in the bottom half of the second with a wind-aided home run to right field.

VC plated tow more runs in the bottom of the third. With one out, Calvin was hit by a pitch and Oleson walked. Calvin moved to third on Casey Turturici's fly ball out and Nick Schnopp followed with an RBI single that also moved Oleson to third. Oleson then scored on a wild pitch to pull Ventura to within 5-3.

The Pirates executed their offense brilliantly in the fourth inning, scoring three runs to take the lead. Torres started things off with a single and Julien Monks walked. KJ Moo-Young laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners ahead 90 feet and JR Godinez grounded out to the right side to score Torres. Calvin was then hit by a pitch and stole second, then Oleson delivered the clutch two-out, two-RBI single to put VC ahead 6-5.

Ventura broke the game open with a four-run fifth inning. Schnopp and Andrew Savage led off with singles and Monks was hit by a pitch one out later to load the bases. Moo-Young hit an RBI single and Godinez hit a sacrifice fly scoring Schnopp and Savage, respectively. Monks then scored and Moo-Young went to second on a botched pick-off move, and Calvin followed with a two-out RBI single to score Moo-Young.  The Pirates held a 10-5 advantage after five complete.

VC plated an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs Moo-Young was hit by a pitch and Godinez singled him t third. Calvin followed with another RBI single for the 11-5 margin.

Hancock scored twice in the eighth, and again in the ninth to make things interesting, but Sebastian Garcia recorded the final out with the bases loaded to save the victory.

With two regular season games remaining, Ventura remains in the conference and playoff chase. They are currently in third place, two games behind Cuesta and one game behind Santa Barbara in the standings. Cuesta and SBCC play each other on the final day of the regular season, Saturday April 30, while the Cougars take on Oxnard on Friday April 29 and the Vaqueros play at Moorpark.

The Pirates close the regular season against LA Pierce at LA Valley on Friday April 29 before hosting Moorpark on Saturday April 30 at 1:00 pm.