The VC baseball team had difficulty generating runs Friday in their 7-1 setback against Saddleback at Pirate Park. The Pirates did not score until the bottom of the ninth on sacrifice fly by Hunter Cervantes. Tommy Castaneda and Jacob Tostado each had a pair of hits for VC in the game. Jathan Magana and Caden Stillwell combined for three scoreless innings in relief on the mound.
After a solid first inning, the Pirates gave up four runs in the second and another two in the fourth. Saddleback also scored once in the sixth for a 7-0 lead.
Meanwhile, the Pirate offense was unable to produce the clutch hit. VC had the bases loaded in the third with one out and came up empty, and filled the bases again in the fourth with two outs. Ventura had a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the sixth and put two more on base in the eighth with two outs. All total, the Pirates left 12 men on base in the game.
The lone run for VC came in the bottom of the ninth. Riley Dalto walked to lead off and moved to third base on J. Tostado's double. one out later Dalto scored on Cervantes' sacrifice fly to set the final score.
After a weekend off, Ventura returns to Western State Conference play next week with a three-game set against Santa Barbara. The series begins on Tuesday Mar. 25 at Pershing Park.