The VC baseball team defeated Los Angeles Mission on Tuesday at Pirate Park, 115, to bring its season record back to .500 at 11-11. Matthew Ramirez was 3-4 at the plate with a pair of runs scored while Tommy Castaneda and Brandon Contreras batted in three and two runs, respectively. Sean Parkinson had two doubles on the day with an RBI and a runs scored. Ben Drumheller pitched into the seventh inning, giving up three earned runs while yielding two hits to pick up a hard-luck no decision.
The Eagles turned a pair of walks and a sacrifice fly into a run in the top of the first for the early lead.
Doubles by Daniel Aguilera, Parkinson and Jacob Tostado resulted in a pair of runs for Ventura in the bottom of the second and a 2-1 lead.
VC added two more runs in the fifth when Contreras doubled home Caden Stillwell and Grant Rodriguez to stretch the advantage to 4-1.
After the first inning, Drumheller was nails on the hill. He faced one batter over the minimum from the second through sixth innings, allowing a walk in the third, before picking the runner off, 1-3-4, and a single in the fourth, retiring the runner on a double play. A two-out walk in the sixth was the only runner Mission left on base during that span.
The Eagles finally got to Drumheller in the seventh with a pair of walks, an error and a sacrifice fly before a single brought in Cole Blommer from the bull pen for VC. LAMC tied the score at 4-4 with three runs in the frame.
Ventura rallied with three runs in the bottom half of the frame. Ramirez singled to lead off and stole second after the first out. Stillwell reached base on an error, and one out later, Aguilera walked to load the bases. Castaneda came in to pinch hit and delivered a three-run double to put the Pirates back on top.
After a one-run eighth for LA Mission, VC responded with four runs to put the game away. Henry Borjas drew a base on balls in the lead-off spot, stealing second before Ramirez walked. Rodriguez singled to fill the diamond followed by an RBI single from Stillwell. Ramirez then scored from third on a balk and Rodriguez crossed home on a passed ball. Stillwell would later score on another passed ball for the 11-5 final score.
Jathan Magana pitched a perfect ninth to close the game out for Ventura.
VC next closes out the two-game set with Mission in Sylmar on Wednesday Mar. 29 before hosting Saddleback on Friday Mar. 21.