VC Pirates Plate 10 in Victorious Home Opener

Robbie Treto swings at a pitch against the Inland Valley Bucs at Los Angeles Valley College on Monday, June 22. Photo by Robert Hollar

The Ventura County Pirates found a needed offensive spark in their home-opener Monday, outgunning the Inland Valley Bucs 10-8 at Los Angeles Valley College.

Pirates starting RHP Deandre Carter (1-2) opened the game with 3 scoreless innings, and induced two double plays early in the game. The Pirates offense came to life in the bottom of the third inning, with Jovan Camacho hitting a 2-RBI double before Robbie Treto sent a ball flying over the fence in the next at bat to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead.

“I had two strikes on me, so I was just looking to put the ball in play, and I got a good pitch to hit and put a good bat on it,” said Treto.

After the Bucs responded with a run in the fourth and two in the fifth to cut the Pirates lead down to 5-3, the Pirates would add an insurance run in the bottom of the 6th off of an Eli paton rbi double. The Pirates opened up the lead by adding four runs in the bottom of the 8th to make it a 10-5 ballgame after having three straight runs walked in with the bases loaded.

The Bucs would make a furious comeback attempt in the top of the 9th, adding three more runs. Reliever Brandon Doehne was brought into a tight spot with one out in the ninth and shut the door for his first save of the season, securing a 10-8 win.

“We didn’t just let good hittable fastballs go by, so we took some better approaches at the plate,” Head Coach George Vranau said. “We used most of the field today and played some small ball in order to try to move some runners along.”

The Pirates will look to continue to build momentum when they take on the IV Pirates on Wednesday at 4:30pm in Pomona.