Suns Go Down With the Daylight as Team’s Opener Left in the Dark

The sun set and the Suns ceased.

The return of professional baseball to Ventura County after a 12-year absence lasted all of four innings Saturday at Oxnard College because banks of lights in left field and along the third-base line failed to go on at dusk.

With the stands full, concessions sales brisk and errorless play on the field, the Pacific Suns were off to a bright start in their Western League opener against the Sonoma County Crushers.

But as the sun dropped behind the left-field fence, the glow on the face of Suns President Don DiCarlo gave way to a furrowed brow. Disaster had struck.

“There are some odds and ends that didn’t get done,” he said. “We’ll be here at 6 in the morning and start with a new day.”

The game, in which the Suns trailed, 2-1, will be resumed today at 1 p.m. A seven-inning game will follow. Any of the approximately 2,300 people who attended Saturday’s game can use their tickets again today.

DiCarlo’s fervent hope that everything would come together at the last minute was dashed. In addition to the problem with the lights, the public address system was inoperative and the scoreboard didn’t work.

The light standards weren’t erected until Friday and electricians had been working 13-hour days since Tuesday. They were still at it at game time.

“I knew they were in trouble when we walked in and they were still running cable,” said Don Mann of Thousand Oaks, whose Conejo Valley Little League team took part in opening ceremonies.

There was little hint of trouble when DiCarlo threw out the first pitch and embraced his son, Marc, the Suns’ first baseman. Their two years of battles with local politicians and complaining neighbors seemingly was won.

Sure, two howling generators parked under the stands near home plate were annoying to season-ticket holders. And neither the singing of the national anthem nor player introductions could be heard by anyone more than 30 feet from the press box.

But baseball was back in these parts for the first time since the Ventura County Gulls flew the coop after one California League season in 1986. The crowd was loving it.

Children gathered within a foot of the dugouts, getting plenty of autographs from cooperative players. Oxnard College Coach Pat Woods chalked the batter’s boxes while Mann’s Little League A’s dashed on the field and slapped hands with the Suns.

The game began with promise. Former major league right-hander Eric King started for the Suns and struck out former Oakland Athletics infielder Lance Blankenship for the first out. Suns third baseman Frank Valdez made a diving play to save a run and hit two doubles off of Crushers’ left-hander Steve Whitaker, a former first-round draft pick of the San Francisco Giants.

Former Hueneme High shortstop Jess Olivares, a Sun who is a favorite son, drove in the first run on a fielder’s choice, drawing whoops from a group of family and friends in the grandstands beyond third base.

But the players didn’t take the field for the fifth inning and the crowd began to pack up and file out even while electricians continued to work on the lights.