2018 Ventura College Baseball Team News
The Ventura College baseball team is pleased to announce 10 players from the 2018 team have committed to transfer to four-year schools for 2018-19. Of those, eight plan on continuing their baseball careers at the next level, including two at NCAA Division I, three at NCAA Division II, two at NAIA and one at NCAA Division III schools.
The American Baseball Coaches Association is proud to honor nearly 300 member college and high school programs with the 2018 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award. Teams from every level of college and high school baseball were recognized with this year's award, which highlights programs coached by ABCA members that posted a GPA over 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the entire 2017-18 academic year. Included among the honored teams are the Ventura College Pirates who posted a team grade point average of 3.21 for the fall and spring semesters.
VC freshman outfielder Steele Ledford, sophomore shortstop Rudy Aguilar and freshman outfielder TJ Foreman led 10 Pirates on the All-Western State Conference North Division team as voted upon by conference coaches last month. Ledford was named first team All-WSC and won the Gold Glove Award for his defense while Aguilar was also named first team All-WSC. Foreman, meanwhile, was second team All-WSC and also earned a Gold Glove Award.
They never gave up, fighting to the end. The Pirates' baseball team , trailing by two runs, were able to load the bases in the top of the ninth inning Thursday at Santa Barbara, just could not get one more hit to overcome the Vaqueros in the season finale. VC dropped the 7-5 decision at Pershing Park, finishing the season at an even .500 overall and in Western State Conference North Division play.
Dayton Provost had the kind of day that every young baseball player dreams about. With the Pirates' backs against the proverbial wall, he came through in a big way, batting 5-5, including a two-out, bases-clearing triple and an eighth inning home run, and batted in six runs as VC defeated Santa Barbara 9-7 Tuesday. The victory kept the Pirates' post-season hopes alive, pulling them into a three-way tie for second place with SBCC and Hancock with one game left on the schedule.
The Pirate baseball team struggled to keep the Hancock off the bases Saturday, dropping their second straight game to the Bulldogs 14-10 in Santa Maria. Ventura (19-19, 9-9) pounded out 17 hits in the game, including three each from TJ Foreman, Fabian De La Barcena and Tommy Gibbons-Matsuyama, but they gave up 16 hits defensively. The loss drops the Pirates two games out of first place with two games remaining in the regular season.
The Pirate baseball team dropped to third place, a game out of first, with an 8-3 loss to visiting Allan Hancock College Thursday at Pirate Park. Dayton Provost had a pair of hits with two RBI while Chris McKee also recorded two singles and scored twice. Fabian De La Barcena had the only extra base it for VC (19-18, 9-8), a fourth-inning triple.
The Pirate baseball team closed to within a half game of first place with a 4-3 triumph over Cuesta Tuesday at Pirate Park. Fabian De La Barcena had an RBI double scoring Dayton Provost in the bottom of the seventh for the game-winning run for Ventura (19-17, 9-7), who swept the season series from the Cougars for the first time since 1989. Noah Proffitt pitched six solid innings, giving up one run while striking out four while Jeff Tben recorded the final six outs for his first save of the season.
The wild ride continued Saturday for the VC baseball team as they brought home an 11-6 road victory over Cuesta College. Dayton Provost had a pair of hits, including a double, and four runs batted in to lead a Pirate offense that took advantage of nine walks on the day. Chris McKee also had two hits and scored two runs in the victory. With the win, the Pirates remain a game out of first place in the Western State Conference race entering the final two weeks of the regular season.
The Pirate baseball team dropped a wild 15-13 decision to visiting Santa Barbara Friday afternoon, but remained within a game of the first place Vaqueros in a Western State Conference race that has five teams bunched within one game of each other. Eric Thrower was 3-3 at the plate with two runs scored and four runs batted in while Chris McKee was 2-4 with a pair of runs scored and four RBI for Ventura (17-17, 7-7).
Who knew? After the Pirate baseball team gave up four runs to visiting Moorpark in the first two innings, VC had the Raiders right where they wanted them. Seven innings later, Shane Gipson singled to left field with the bases loaded to score pinch runner Chris McKee as Ventura (17-16, 7-6) walked off with a 6-5 victory over their cross-county rivals. Gipson had two hits andtwo RBI in the game while Dayton Provost, who led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk, was 2-4 with a run scored and one run batted in.
In a tight conference race, every game looms large. The Pirate baseball team found that out Tuesday, falling from a first-place tie to fourth place with a 5-2 loss at Moorpark Tuesday afternoon. Dayton provost had a pair of hits with one runs scored and one RBI while Steele Ledford and AJ Medrano also recorded two base hits each but it was not enough to overcome the Raiders. Noah Proffitt had a solid day on the mound, pitching a complete game while scattering nine hits and giving up five runs, three earned, and striking out two.
The Pirate baseball team trailed by four runs at one point and five runs at another, but in the end they claimed a four-run victory, 16-12 against Oxnard Saturday at Pirate Park. The teams combined for 28 runs and 31 hits in the 3-hour, 40-minute game on a picture perfect day in Ventura. Rudy Aguilar belted out four hits, including a double, scored two runs and knocked in three runs while AJ Medrano had a pair of hits, including a home run, with two runs scored and three RBI for the VC (16-15, 6-5).
The Ventura baseball team found runs hard to come by on Thursday afternoon, falling at Oxnard College 4-1 in Western State Conference North Division action. Aj Medrano was 3-4 on the day at the plate while Dayton Provost and JT Heade both slapped out two hits in the game. Blake Campbell allowed one run over 6.2 innings of work on the mound in relief for the Pirates (15-15, 5-5).
Pirate pitcher Noah Proffitt scattered five hits in a complete game shutout at Santa Barbara Tuesday, leading Ventura to a 3-0 Western State Conference North Division victory over the Vaqueros. The freshman starter recorded four strike outs and did not give up a walk in his nine innings of work. Offensively, Steele Ledford had three hits, including a double, and scored a run to lead the way for Ventura (15-14, 5-4).
It was the Pirates against the Pirates Saturday afternoon as Ventura traveled south to Orange Coast for a baseball match-up. The VC Pirates were unable to make an early 5-1 lead hold up as the OCC Pirates came away with the 16-6 victory. Dayton Provost and AJ Medrano each had a pair of hits for Ventura (14-14, 4-4) while TJ Foreman had three runs batted in and scored twice. Ryker Kennepohl started on the mound for VC, pitching into the fifth inning and giving up four runs.
