For eight of the nine innings Wednesday, the Pirate baseball team gave No. 6-ranked Riverside fits. Unfortunately, the other inning was a rough one for VC. The Pirates led the Tigers 7-0 going into the bottom of the fifth inning and had two outs and two strikes before RCC rallied for an eight-run inning. VC (18-15, 8-7) was unable to score again, and the Tigers plated an insurance run in the seventh in the 9-7 decision. Blake Chiaramonte was 4-5 with 3 RBI and a run scored. Brendan Griffith had an RBI triple. Bryson Wallet added an RBI single.
Andrew Nardi made the start on the hill, throwing four scoreless innings scattering five hits with six strikeouts. David Hughes struck out three batters in two innings of relief. Brent Dickey threw one scoreless inning of relief.
After a two-hour delay to the start of the game waiting on umpires to arriove, the Pirates got off to a fast start. Chris McKee opened the top of the first with a single, and moved to second base on Rudolfo Aguilar's sacrifice bunt. Chiaramonte followed with an RBI single and VC led 1-0.
In the third inning, Ventura was back at it, scoring four runs. Shane Gipson led off with a single and McKee followed with a walk. Aguilar reached base on an error to load the bases and Chiaramonte had a two-RBI single. Brendan Griffith was safe on another error to re-load the diamond, and Wallet added an RBI single. T.J. Durfee then grounded out, but platyed another score and Ventura led 5-0.
The Pirates rallied for two more runs in the fourth inning. With two outs, Chiaramonte hit his third single of the game, and scored on Griffith's triple. Griffith then crossed home after a wild pitch to make it 7-0 for VC.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Pirates got the first two outs, and had two strikes on the third batter before the wheels fell off. Riverside sent 13 batters to the plate, knocked out seven hits and drew three walks while taking an 8-7 lead after five complete.
The Tigers then got an insurance run in the seventh inning in claiming the 9-7 victory.
Ventura continues its five-game non-conference week with a pair of home games, Friday April 14 against Taft at 1:00 pm, and Saturday April 15 against Orange Coast at 12:00 pm.