The Pirate baseball team rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday afternoon to walk off visiting Oxnard 3-2 at Pirate Park. The victory rewarded another stellar performance from starting pitcher Noah Proffitt, who picked up the complete game win allowing one earned run on seven hits with five strikeouts. Travis Vaala had a pair of hits, including a double, with one run batted in and one run scored and Riley Langerman recorded three hits on the day for VC (6-10, 1-5).
The Condors scored their only earned run in the first inning on a single and a stolen base followed by another single to lead things off. Proffitt shut down Oxnard from that point, scattering five more hits in the game.
Ventura evened the score with a run in the third inning. Vaala hit a one-out double, and moved to third when Tommy Gibbons-Matsuyama reached base on an error. Gabe Baldovino then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Vaala and the game was tied 1-1.
Oxnard retook the lead in the sixth, scoring an unearned run with a pair of singles sandwiched around a VC error and a sacrifice fly, setting up the ninth inning drama.
In the final frame, Jacob Harris led off with a single. One out later, Jacob Martinez also singled, followed by an RBI double by Adrian Sandoval to tie the game. With the game-winning run 90 feet from home, Vaala then came to bat, hitting a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Martinez for the walk off.
The Pirates play Santa Barbara next week in a three game set. VC will travel to Pershing Park on Tuesday Mar. 3 and Saturday Mar. 7 and host the Vaqueros on Thursday Mar. 5.