Rebounding from a pair of losses on opening day the Ventura College baseball team slugged their way to an 11-5 victory over visiting El Camino-Compton in their home opener. Ventura knocked out 14 hits in the game including five extra base hits. Brison Cronenbold went 4-5 with a triple and three runs scored. Tony Fonzo went 2-3 with a double, a triple, two rbi's, one run scored and two walks in the game. Brandon Ward collected the win in three innings of relief.
The Pirates returned home after 11 pm on Friday night following 18 innings of baseball in the central valley and were back on the field just over 12 hours later for their third game in the last 24 hours. Ventura's bats though were not tired as they collected their second double digit hit total in three games and plated 11 runs. Ventura saw four players collect multiple hits and eight different Pirates had a hit in the win. Ryan Coker added two hits including a double to go with a run scored and an rbi. Erick Allegro had two hits and scored two runs with a walk. Bryson Wallet collected just one hit on the day but it was a triple and he drove in three runs and scored another.
Ventura took an early 1-0 lead after one inning when Allegro scored on an rbi single from Coker. The Pirates then went down 4-1 after Compton chased the Pirate starting pitcher Zachary Martirano with four runs in the third inning. VC then ran off eight runs in the next three innings scoring three in the fourth, one in the fifth, then El Camino-Compton was able to tie it at five after the fifth, but the Pirates four in the sixth put them on top for good. Ventura added two more in the eight to seal the victory.
Carlos Soto, Tyler Esquivel and Adisson Pelupessy each threw a scoreless inning of relief. Soto collected one strikeout. Ward threw three innings of relief allowing one run on two hits with three strikeouts.
Ventura (1-2) will now be on the road for their next six games. They start with a road game at San Diego Mesa on Thursday Feb. 4 at 2:00 pm. After which they will play a pair of games against Orange Empire powerhouse Cypress College on Friday Feb. 5 at 2:00 pm and then again on Saturday Feb. 6 at 12:00 pm.