After spotting the visiting Citrus Owls two runs in the first inning, VC closed with six unanswered runs to post a 6-2 victory Saturday afternoon at Pirate Park. Adisson Pelupessy threw eight solid innings, giving up just two hits after the first frame, in picking up his first collegiate pitching win. Bradley Fullerton was 3-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
The Pirates gave up two runs on two hits in the first inning, but answered in the bottom of the third. They had four straight hits, a double by Ryan Coker then a single by Fullerton, followed by an RBI single from Dylan Colman and a Tony Fonzo single to load the bases. Codi Santana reached on a fielder's choice, batting in Fullerton, and Adam Maciel singled in Coleman a batter later.
Coker doubled to begin the fourth, and scored on Fullerton's single, making the score 4-2 for the Pirates.
Ventura added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sanchez, Campos and Coker hit consecutive singles to load the bases before Fullerton singled in Sanchez for an RBI. Colman then reached on a fielder's choice to plate Campos and the final score of 6-2 was set.
The Pirates (3-8, 0-2) return to Western State Conference action on Tuesday Feb. 24 at Moorpark before completing the two-game series against the Raiders at home on Thursday Feb. 26. First pitch at Pirate Park will be 2:00 pm.