Ventura Boots Moorpark Out of WSC Lead

A generally accepted baseball strategy is to hit it where they ain’t, but Ventura College’s Dan Madsen gained by hitting it where they were.

Madsen hit a snake-tickling ground ball that went just under Moorpark shortstop Dan Smith’s glove and then skipped below left fielder Jason Jones’ glove. Madsen just kept running.

“My speed isn’t too great, not good at all,” said Madsen, Ventura’s catcher and No. 9 hitter.

Yet, by the time Moorpark returned the ball to the infield, Madsen had followed David Eggert home with what proved to be the winning run in Ventura’s 8-3 Western State Conference victory Saturday afternoon at Moorpark.

Madsen’s single and Jones’ subsequent three-base error ignited a five-run fifth inning that helped knock Moorpark (17-9, 12-4) out of the WSC lead.

After losing two conference games this week, Moorpark trails first-place Cuesta by a half-game and second-place Canyons by percentage points.

Ventura, which has beaten the conference’s top three teams, remains mired in the middle of the pack with a 7-9 WSC mark.

“We’re so inconsistent,” Madsen said. “We’ll play games like this, and the next time we’ll give up 12, 13 runs.”

For the second time in 10 days, Ventura (15-12) beat a WSC opponent on its opponent’s field to knock that school out of the conference lead.

“What a roller-coaster ride we’re on,” Ventura Coach Gary Anglin said. “We’re out searching for answers because of our lack of consistency . . . We’re a one-pitcher team right now.”

That one pitcher, sophomore right-hander Mike Teron, had missed his last two starts because of shoulder trouble, but he scattered seven hits in nine strong innings Saturday.

Teron (7-2) struck out five, and had the Moorpark batters hitting them where his fielders were.

“It seemed every time we hit the ball hard, they had us played right,” Moorpark Coach Ken Wagner said. “Teron, when he is on, is as good as anybody.”

Moorpark starter and loser Willie Leighton (5-3) was nicked for two runs in the first inning, but retired 11 consecutive batters before the fateful fifth.

With Ventura leading, 2-1, Eggert led off that inning with a single. He was headed for second on a hit-and-run play when Madsen’s grounder bored a hole in the Moorpark defense and unleashed a flood of runs.

“That got us down a little bit, but that shouldn’t have gotten us down,” Wagner said. “You’ve got to bounce back.”

Madsen’s hit was followed by four singles and three more runs before Teron was thrown out at third to end the inning.

Ventura pushed its lead to 8-1 with another run in the sixth, and Moorpark scored single runs in the sixth and seventh.

Leadoff hitter Smith was the only Moorpark player with more than one hit, and the Raiders had no extra-base hits.

Ventura, which remains in contention for one of five conference playoff spots, was led by Gabe Diaz, who had two doubles and a single.