Ventura, Moorpark to Square Off

After being put on hold when Ventura College disbanded its men’s basketball program in 1997-98 and 1998-99 because of rules violations, the rivalry between the Pirates and Moorpark is as heated as ever.

The teams meet Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Ventura in a game with Western State Conference Northern Division title implications.

Defending-champion Moorpark (20-5) leads the division with a 7-1 record, followed by Ventura (21-7) at 6-2. Each team has two games to play.

Moorpark Coach Remy McCarthy knows it’s a key game, but he’s not hyperventilating about it.

“I’m not overly neurotic about being a basketball coach,” McCarthy said. “We decided when [division play] started we weren’t going to be too fired up for any one game. We were going to treat them all the same.”

Coach Greg Winslow has Ventura challenging for the division championship in only his second season.

“It’s obviously a very critical game for both teams because whoever wins our [division] will get a top-four seed and get homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs,” Winslow said.

Moorpark has won eight in a row, including an 82-72 victory over Ventura on Jan. 24.

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The chilling weather that has clobbered the Southland the last few days might be the only thing that can cool off the Glendale College batters.

Under first-year Coach Jon Strauss, Glendale is 5-1 after defeating Ricks (Idaho), 12-1, and Compton, 18-2, on Saturday in the Western State Conference tournament.

“We got 20 guys who can hit,” Strauss said. “But the last two games we didn’t [face] great pitching.”

Strauss said center fielder Jon Horwitz and second baseman John Manuel, both sophomores, are hitting well after switching places in the batting order.

Horwitz, from Notre Dame High, was moved from leadoff to seventh and had four hits in each of the last two games. Manuel, from Poly, is sparking the team in the leadoff spot.

Strauss remains concerned about Glendale’s inexperienced pitching, but feels a lot better after watching sophomore Kevin Welch and freshman Ivan Lopez last week. Welch (1-1) struck out 10 in eight innings against Ricks and Lopez (2-0) struck out 10 in seven innings against Compton.