Valley’s Goal Against Ventura: Let’s Play Two

It’s a simple case of making the best of what looks like a bad situation.

The Valley College baseball team will travel to Ventura today for what it hopes will be two games in the final round of the Western State Conference playoff tournament.

The Monarchs (29-10-1) must sweep a doubleheader from conference co-champion Ventura (28-9) to qualify as the conference’s top-seeded team in the state tournament.

The first game starts at noon with a second game, should Valley win the opener, immediately following.

“I feel OK because we’ve been able to establish a little momentum,” said Valley Coach Chris Johnson, whose team defeated Oxnard and Moorpark this week to earn a shot at Ventura. “In a situation where we have to go to their yard and beat them twice, which on the surface isn’t such a good situation, I feel pretty good about our chances.”

Ventura, which received a bye into the final round, has been idle for a week. Coach Gary Anglin said that his players are eager to play.

“They’re rested and ready,” Anglin said. “The week off gave us a chance to rest our arms a little bit and heal up any nicks or bruises.”

Ventura has won three of the five meetings between the teams this season, including both conference games.

Valley, however, proved during the San Bernardino tournament in February that it is capable of sweeping Ventura. After losing to Ventura in the second round, Valley came back to take two games from the Pirates and win the championship.

On Friday, neither Johnson nor Anglin had decided who would pitch in today’s first game.

Ventura, however, is expected to start either right-hander Shane Espitia, who has beaten Valley twice, or left-hander Dean McMillin, who has never faced the Monarchs.

Valley will go with Tim DeGrasse, Mike Roberts or Dean Money.

A key for Valley will be whether it can sustain the level of play defensively that it exhibited this week against Oxnard and Moorpark. The Monarchs played virtually error-free baseball--something they did not do in their losses to Ventura.