Pirate catcher Shane Gipson had three hits, including a triple, three runs batted in and also scored a run in Ventura's 10-3 victory at Moorpark College Friday. Rudy Aguilar also belted out three safeties with two runs scored and an RBI and four other Pirates had two hits each. Ryker Kennepohl pitched six solid innings, allowing two earned runs in picking up the victory for VC (9-10, 2-1).
Ventura got on the board in the top of the first inning when, with one out, Fabian De La Barcena had a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to score Dayton Provost.
VC got another run in the fourth inning when Eric Thrower led off with a double, then Tommy Gibbons-Matsuyama singled him home.
In the fifth, Ventrua plated two more scores. Chris McKee led off with a single, and moved to second on De La Barcena's grounout. Gipson then doubled McKee home, and scored two batters later on Thrower's RBI single.
The Pirates broke the game open in the sixth with two more runs. With two outs, Gipson tripled home Rudy Aguilar and De La Barcena for a 6-0 VC lead.
The Raiders got on the board with two runs in the seventh, but VC answered with three runs in the eighth to essentially put the game away. Provost was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on a passed ball, and De La Barcena doubled home Aguilar. Jacob Valdez doubled home De La Barcena for a 9-2 advantage.
Aguilar had a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth to score TJ Head, and Moorpark scored once in the bottom half of the frame to set the final 10-3 margin.
Provost had two hits with two runs scored and Thrower recorded a pair of hits with a run scored and a run batted in. TJ Foreman also had two hits with a run scored while De La Barcena had a hit with two RBI and two runs scored.
Sal Delgado pitched 1.2 scoreless innings of relief and Jared Gray closed the door in the ninth.
The Pirates and Raiders will square off to close their two-game set on Tuesday March 13. First pitch is slated for 2:30 pm at Pirate Park.