Ducey Homers, Has Three RBIs as Gulls Win, 6-3

Nearly a month ago, Rob Ducey of the Ventura County Gulls was the terror of the California League. He knocked in six runs against the Fresno Giants on April 23 to give him a league-high 19.

No one had heard from him since. That is until Wednesday night.

Ducey awoke from his nearly monthlong slumber with a solo home run and a two-run single to lead the Gulls to a 6-3 win over the Stockton Ports at Stockton. Ducey, who increased his RBI total to 22, singled home two runs in the third inning and hit his sixth home run of the season in the fifth.

The victory moved the Gulls to 3 1/2 games within the first-place Palm Springs Angels, who lost to Modesto on Wednesday, 8-0.

The Gulls took the lead early and never relinquished it as Sandy Guerrero hit a solo homer in the first inning. Ducey’s third-inning single scored Santiago Garcia and Eric Yelding and extended the lead to 3-0. His homer made it 4-0.

Modesto scored two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to bring Jeff Musselman out of the bullpen. Ventura starting pitcher Jose Mesa allowed three runs on eight hits in 5 innings of work and increased his record to 5-1. William Shanks pitched the ninth inning for Ventura.

Modesto starter Gary Kanwisher went five innings, allowing five hits and saw his record fall to 0-2.

Single runs in the seventh and eighth accounted for Ventura’s scoring. The first came in the seventh inning when Greg Myers scored from third on a balk by Modesto relief pitcher Martin Montanyo.

The Gulls scored again in the eighth when Ducey hit a a short fly ball with the bases loaded to left fielder Todd Brown, who made the catch for the out. But his bad throw home allowed Garcia to score from third.

Ventura improved its record to 18-14 with the win, while Stockton dropped to 16-14.

Gull Notes

Tom Thomas of the Visalia Oaks, who captained Cal State Fullerton to the championship of the 1984 College World Series, recently had nine straight hits. Pitcher Steve Howe of the San Jose Bees ended the binge. The nine hits raised Thomas’ average from .259 to .347. . . . With three home runs last weekend against the Gulls, Tyler Brilinski of the Modesto A’s has hit 8 homers and driven in 18 runs in May. . . . Ex-American League pitcher Fernando Arroyo left the San Jose Bees last week. Arroyo, 34, was 1-4 with an ERA of 4.50.