The VC baseball team dropped an 11-9 decision to visiting Oxnard in their final game of the season at Pirate Park on Friday. David King had a pair of hits and three runs batted in while Evan DeVally hit a single and a double with a pair of RBI and a run scored. Mason Reid scored three runs for the Pirates (17-17, 9-12) as their post-season hopes took a hit against the Condors.
Ventura got off to a solid start as DeVally tripled home Jacob Tostado and Peter Dufau in the second inning for a 2-0 lead.
The Condors came back, however, with five runs in the top of the third inning, forcing VC to play catch-up the rest of the game.
The Pirates scored twice in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 5-4. Yuki Kawashima hit an RBI single scoring Bryce Elias and Reid scored from third on a wild pitch during the next at-bat.
Oxnard plated two more runs in the top of the fifth and VC answered with two in the bottom of the sixth. DeVally walked and Reid singled before Kawashima moved the runners ahead with a groundout to first base. King then had a clutch two-RBI single to make it 7-6 for Oxnard.
The Condors scored three times in the top of the seventh to stretch their lead back to four, but Ventura again answered in the bottom of the eighth to keep the game within reach.
King had an RBI in the frame, knocking in Reid with a single, followed by an RBI single by Haiden Letzing that scored Kawashima. Dylan Jackson hit another single to score King to pull Ventura back to within one run, 10-9 heading to the final inning.
The Condors scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth and VC could not muster a rally in the bottom of the frame, falling by the 11-9 margin.
Ventura has a quick turnaround as they travel to Santa Barbara on Saturday April 20 for a 1:00 pm game at Pershing Park.