The Ventura College baseball team is pleased to announce 10 players from the 2018 team have committed to transfer to four-year schools for 2018-19. Of those, eight plan on continuing their baseball careers at the next level, including two at NCAA Division I, three at NCAA Division II, two at NAIA and one at NCAA Division III schools.
Two-time All-Western State Conference shortstop, Rudy Aguilar heads the list as he signed with St. John's University in November. This past season St. John's won the Big East and participated in the Clemson Regional. Redshirt freshman Dayton Provost also inked a Division I letter in the fall with Oklahoma State University of the Big 12 Conference. He earned second team All-WSC honors this past season for VC.
Shane Gipson and Chris McKee committed to NCAA Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association schools. Gipson will attend Cal Poly Pomona and McKee will be his foe at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Both Gipson and McKee were All-WSC North Division selections this past season. Right fielder Eric Thrower will take his skills to NAIA-affiliated Georgetown College in Kentucky and left hand pitcher Austin Nicholson will be toeing the rubber at Division III Sul Ross State. Fabian De La Barcena, who finshed as one of the top Pirate run producers this year, will take his talents to Division II Academy of the Arts University in San Francisco while third-year sophomore Darnell Prince signed with Division II Briar Cliff University in Souiz City, Iowa.
Two other sophomores, Jacob Valdez and Jake Rosley, will attend UCLA and DePaul University (Chicago, IL), respectively, to continue their academic careers.
The 2018 Pirates finished 20-20 overall and 10-10 in WSC play under first-year head coach Jimmy Walker. They missed the post-season by a single game and finished in a tie for third place in the conference standings.