Pirate lefty Jacob Martinez pitched a solid seven innings Thursday, yielding just two runs as Ventura defeated Victor Valley 9-3 in Victorville. Jared Gray closed the door on the rams with 1.2 innings of scoreless work while Zane Chittenden had three runs batted in to lead the Pirates (8-5) offensively.
Martinez was good on the mound all day, just yielding single scores in the second and fifth innings.
Trailing 1-0, TJ Foreman hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the third to tie the game.
Victor Valley re-took the lead in the fifth inning, scoring on a passed ball before the Pirate offense erupted in the sixth. Foreman and Chittenden each recorded RBI's, and Ethan Balolong delivered the big hit, knocking in two runs.
In the seventh, AJ Medrano and Chittenden went yard back-to-back to extend the Pirate lead to 8-2.
Chittenden then had another RBI in the eighth as Ventura posted the 9-3 victory.
Ventura returns home on Friday March 1 with a double-header against Orange Coast College beginning at 11:00 am.