The VC baseball team traveled to Santa Maria Saturday, dropping a pair of games to Western State Conference frontrunner Allan Hancock College. The Pirates fell 10-5 in the 7-inning opener before dropping the second to the Bulldogs, 17-7. Elijah Maris had pair of hits on the day with three runs batted in and a run scored while Connor Laeng scored twice with two hits and an RBI.
Ventura 5, Allan Hancock 10, 7 innings
VC dropped the opener after giving up 10 runs in the first four innings of play.
The Pirates took the early lead with a run in the top of the first. JR Godinez hit a one-out triple and Nick Schnopp followed with an RBI single for the 1-0 advantage.
The Bulldogs countered, however, scoring three times in their half of the frame for a 3-1 lead.
Ventura scored another run in the second. Maris hit a two-out single to score Anthony Chavez, who had doubled earlier in the inning.
The Bulldogs began to pull away in the bottom o f the second, scoring another run, followed by two in the third to lead 6-2.
The Pirates nibbled into the Bulldog advantage in the fourth scoring another run. Laeng reached base on an error and stole second before Maris tripled him home one out later.
AHC broke the game wide open in the bottom of the fourth with four runs to post a 10-3 advantage.
Ventura scored twice more in the fifth. Schnopp and Casey Turturici both walked before Julien Monks hit a one-out double to score one. Chavez then hit in Turturici on a groundout to third, but the Pirates still trailed 10-5.
Both teams were scoreless from that point with the game ending with the final 10-5 margin.
Joseph Wiersma took the loss as the starter for VC while Trevor Foster and Travis Nelson each had scoreless outings in relief.
Ventura 7, Allan Hancock 17
The Pirates were never in the nightcap, falling behind 14-0 through five innings.
VC had 16 straight batters retired before Laeng broke up the no-hit bid with a one-out single in the sixth. Hunter Klingelhoffer was then hit by a pitch and Maris grounded into a probable double-play ball, but reached first on a throwing error, with Laeng scoring on the play to break the ice for Ventura.
In the top of the seventh, Nolan Coon led off with a pinch-hit double. He moved to third on a fly-ball out by Max Baldaccini and scored on Turturici's groundout to second.
Ventura awakened with five runs in the top of the eighth. Laeng led off with a double and Maris was hit by a pitch one out later. Godinez singled to load the bases and Coon was hit by a pitch to score a run. Baldaccini then singled to knock in two more runs before Connor Vogel singled in another. Travis Vaala hit a sacrifice fly to right field to plate another score, setting the final 17-7 margin.
Ventura returns to the diamond at Pirate Park on Thursday May 13, hosting Bakersfield for a double-header beginning at 12:00 noon.