Staiano Pitches Gem in Pirate Shutout Victory

Right handed pitcher Luca Staiano pitched a gem Saturday, leading the Pirate baseball team to a 4-0 victory at Citrus. The sophomore pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out six batters against the Owls. Shortstop Jacob Tostado had a pair of doubles with two runs batted in and Yuki Kawashima also doubled and scored a run in for Ventura (4-3).

While both teams had base runners in each of the first three innings, neither team was able to come up with the clutch hit to push a across a score.  That changed for Ventura in the top of the fourth.

With one out, Aaron McLeod walked and Bryce Elias singled to left field. after another out, Tostado delivered with a two-run double to the left side to put the Pirates ahead.

Meanwhile, Staiano pitched out of a jam with a runner on third base with no outs in the bottom half of the column, eliciting a fly ball out and a pair of strike outs to retire the side. 

the score remained 2-0 until the top of the ninth when Ventura produced a pair of insurance runs. Kawashima doubled to lead off the inning and Tostado sacrificed him to third. Brandon Contreras followed with an RBI-single to right field. during the next at bat, Contreras stole second, then stole third, scoring on a throwing error on the catcher to set the final margin. 

Harrison Cordeiro pitched the seventh and eighth innings, giving up one hit and fanning two batters while Jaden Valdez came in to throw a perfect ninth inning to preserve the victory.

The Pirates will next travel to Sylmar to take on Los Angeles Mission on Tuesday Feb. 13.  They return home on Thursday Feb. 15 against Riverside.