The VC baseball team evened the series with visiting San Joaquin Delta on Saturday with a big 12-2 victory over the Mustangs at Pirate Park. Casey Turturici was 3-3 on the day with three runs batted in and two runs scored and Andrew Savage scored twice with a double and a walk at the plate. Jake read made the start on the hill, pitching four innings and giving up two runs, one earned, and Hunter Jones picked up the win with five scoreless innings.
After giving up an unearned run in the first inning, the Pirates came back with four runs in the bottom half of the frame. Reiss Calvin beat out a throw on a dropped grounder to open the game and JR Godinez got on base on another error that moved Calvin to third. Calvin then scored on a passed ball and John Oleson doubled to score Godinez, followed by an RBI single by Turturici. One out later, Garrick Levesque singled, then stole second, and Turturici scored on another passed ball on the next pitch. The Pirates led 4-1 after an inning of play.
Delta scored one more in the top of the second before VC answered by plating three more runs to take control of the game. KJ Moo-Young, Godinez and Oleson all walked to load the bases with one out before Turturici had a two-RBI single, moving Oleson to third. After a pitching change, the Pirates successfully pulled off the double-steal with Turturici stealing second and Oleson taking home for the 7-2 advantage.
Both teams settled in a bit in the third, until Ventura played "small ball" to perfection to score three more in the bottom of the fifth inning. Turturici led off with a single and Andrew Savage drew a base on balls. Levesque executed the sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position and Gage Allen followed with an RBI single. Ramon Torres then reached on an error that scored Savage and Allen.
The Pirates scored two insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh. Savage doubled home Ewan Ferguson, who was hit by a pitch, then scored on a bases-loaded groundout by Matthew Panzica.
The insurance was not needed, however, as Jones was on point, yielding just two hits over five scoreless frames, striking out three with no walks.
Ventura closes the three-game set with the rubber match Sunday Jan. 30 at 12:00 pm at Pirate Park.