"It's a beautiful day for a ballgame..." as Ernie Banks said. "Let's play two!" It was a beautiful day in Monterey Friday as Ventura and Monterey Peninsula did play two, splitting the twin bill in what the teams coined as "The Battle for the Beach." The Lobos took game one 8-2 before the Pirates (5-5) came back to win the nightcap 8-5 in 12 innings. Steele Ledford led the Pirates with six hits on the day and Shane Gipson had a home run in the 12th inning of game two to send VC to victory.
Ventura 2, Monterey Peninsula 8
After giving up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, VC managed to pull within 3-2 after three, but could get no closer in the 8-2 setback.
After spotting the Lobos three runs, Ventura scored one in the second inning. With one out, AJ Medrano singled home Dayton Provost to close the deficit to 3-1.
In the third inning, Provost singled home Tommy Gibbons-Matsuyama to make it a 3-2 game, but the Pirates got no closer. Monterey scored two in the sixth and three in the eighth to put the game away.
Medrano, Eric Thrower and ledford all had two hits in the game while Provost was 1-3 with a walk, a run scored and one run batted in. Jeff Thoben pitched five scoreless innings in relief.
Ventura 8, Monterey Peninsula 5 (12 innings)
The Pirates came from behind to defeat the Lobos in extra innings to earn the split. VC gave up three runs to MPC in the bottom of the third inning before starting their comeback.
With one out and the bases loaded in the fourth, Thrower reached on a fielder's choice that scored Provost to make it 3-1.
In the sixth, Gipson doubled home Medrano to reduce the deficit to 3-2 before Monterey Peninsula got the run back in the bottom half of the frame.
Ventura finally got on the right side of the score with three runs in the seventh inning. Ledford doubled in Gibbons-Matsuyama, moved to third on an error, then scored, and Jacob Valdez singled home TJ Foreman for a 5-4 Pirate advantage.
The Lobos sent the game to extra innings with one run in the bottom of the ninth.
In the 12th inning, Gipson homered with one out to break the stalemate, then Foreman had a two-out single to score Ethan Balolong-Reyes and Ledford for the 8-5 final score.
Gipson was 4-6 with a home run and a double, two RBI and a run scored while Ledford also had four hits, including a two-bagger, with two runs scored and a run batted in. Foreman ended the game with three hits, an RBI and a run scored. Ryker Kennepohl gave up three runs while pitching into the fifth inning, and the Pirate bullpen yielded two runs in 7.2 innings of work. Joseph Cormier pitched three scoreless innings of relief to pick up the victory.
The Pirates and Lobos will conclude the three-game series on Saturday Feb. 17 with a 1:00 pm start time in Monterey.