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Community college baseball: No. 16 seed VC to host first-round game
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More from SportsThe Ventura College baseball team was seeded No. 16 in the Southern California regional playoffs and will host a first-round game Tuesday against No. 17 Rio Hondo.
The winner will face either No. 1 Santa Ana (32-11) or No. 2 Cuesta (30-13-1) this weekend in a best-of-three series.
Pitcher Zach Thornton, who was leading the state with 10 wins before sitting out the last two weeks of the season with arm inflammation, is expected to start Tuesday at home.
"He's definitely got to go," said Ventura coach Don Adams.
It is the team's first postseason berth since it shared the Western State Conference's North Division title in 2006.
Ventura was seeded No. 16, despite a strong 27-13 record and a No. 12 finish in total season RPI. Rio Hondo was No. 23 in RPI.
Ventura (27-13) finished second in the WSC North with a 17-8 record this season, three games behind champion Cuesta.
The Pirates were 0-5 against Cuesta this season, but 17-3 against the rest of the division.
Ventura also traveled to Santa Ana in its last postseason trip in 2006, dropping two close games.
"We're all right," said Adams. "We've been there before."
According tocoasports.org, sophomore Jose Vargas is third in the state in slugging percentage (.803), fourth in RBIs (51), and 10th in hitting (.430).
Freshman Garrett Rau and Thornton are second and third in the state in ERA, respectively, at 1.31 and 1.32.
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