Jake Renshaw, the ace of the Ventura College baseball team's 2006 Western State Conference title-winning team, now pitches for the Frederick Keys in the Carolina League.

When he called Ventura coach Don Adams on Friday to check in on the Pirates' latest North Division race, Renshaw discovered that this year's lineup is averaging 7.8 runs per game.

"Man, I wish we had that," Renshaw, whose team averaged barely five runs per game, responded.

But it isn't just offense which has the second-place Pirates (23-10, 13-5) still in the WSC North race, despite four straight losses to division-leading Cuesta (23-13-1, 14-4).

On Thursday, Ventura used a little bit of everything to pull back to within one game of the Cougars.

This year's ace, Oak Park High product Zach Thornton, stranded 11 Santa Barbara City runners for his state-leading 10th win and closer Garrett Rau wriggled out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth inning for a 3-2 Ventura win.

"We went from the jaws of defeat to victory in three pitches," said Adams.

It started with a wild pitch, which ricocheted off the Vaqueros' backstop and allowed Ventura catcher Mike Yingling to cut down the tying run at the plate. Rau produced a strikeout and a pop out on the next two pitches to complete the save.

Yingling had already driven in the winning run with a two-strike suicide squeeze.

"You hardly ever see that," said Adams.

With only seven games to play in the season, Ventura, which has responded to dropping a pair of one-run games with Cuesta with four straight wins, continues its pursuit by opening a two-game series at third-place Oxnard (16-19, 8-10) at 1 p.m. today.

Ventura has won 19 of its last 20 games against non-Cuesta competition dating back to Feb. 16.

"It's a resilient bunch," said Adams. "They come out to play everyday."

Hit man: Ventura third baseman Jose Vargas topped the state in hitting this week when his batting average rose to .469 after Tuesday's win over Santa Barbara.

A rare 0 for 4 on Thursday dipped Vargas to .440.

The Ventura High product entered this week leading the state in batting average (.462) and slugging percentage (.882). He was also second in total bases (105), fourth in home runs (10), fourth in RBIs (44) and eighth in runs scored (40).

Also, Thornton leads the state in wins while ranking sixth in strikeouts (71) and seventh in ERA (1.32).

Making a racket: Nelson Emery's Ventura College men's tennis team entered this weekend's WSC Championships in Santa Barbara a perfect 10-0 in conference play.

Seven Pirates went unbeaten in singles play and eighth VC teams went unbeaten in doubles play.

Making a splash: Larry Baratte's Ventura College men's and women's swimming teams both sped through WSC play a perfect 7-0 in dual-meet competition.

The WSC diving championships are this weekend at El Camino College in Torrance. Ventura will host the WSC swimming championships next weekend.