The VC baseball team bounced back with a 10-4 victory at Oxnard College Tuesday afternoon in the first game of a three-game series. Jake Read started on the hill and pitched four innings with five strikeouts and the VC bullpen threw five scoreless innings to preserve the win. Reiss Calvin and John Oleson led the 21-hit attack with four hits each and JR Godinez and Nick Schnopp each produced three hits for the Pirates (6-11, 1-3).
Ventura took an initial lead with a pair of runs in a two-out rally in the top of the second inning. WIth one out, Ramon Torres doubled. Another out later, Julien Monks reached base on an error that scored Torres. Monks then moved to third on a wild pitch before Schnopp singled him home for a 2-0 VC advantage.
The Condors plated a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings, respectively, to take a 4-2 lead into the fifth.
The Pirates responded with two more runs in the top of the fifth inning. KJ Moo-Young and Godinez singled to start off the frame and Calvin reached on a fielder's choice with Moo-Young out at third. Oleson followed with an RBI single before the second out of the inning. Torres then came up and hit a single to score Calvin and the game was tied at 4-4.
VC took a 5-4 edge in the top of the seventh on Andrew Savage's RBI single that scored Oleson.
The guests added two more runs in the eighth to widen the gap. Calvin provided the clutch hit in the frame, a one-out, two-RBI single that scored Schnopp and Godinez.
Finally, the Pirates added three insurance runs in the final column. Monks and Schnopp opened with singles, and Godinez knocked in a run with a single one out later. Godinez and Schnopp advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch, and Calvin delivered in the clutch once again, knocking in two runs with another key single.
Calvin finished 4-6 with four RBI and a run scored while Oleson was 4-5 with a run scored and one batted in.
JuanCarlos Rodarte and Anthony Betancourt combined to pitch a scoreless fifth inning and Max Flame followed with two scoreless frames. Timmy Adams and Dawson Radik pitched the eighth and Robby Keister closed the door in the ninth.
The Pirates and Condors move their series to Pirate Park on Thursday March 3 with a 2:00 pn first pitch.