After nearly seven months without a rudder, school and district sources indicate the Oxnard College athletic department has hired an athletic director.

Former Palomar College assistant athletic director Jonas Crawford was WSC golf champion when he attended Cuesta.

The process, which began in November, was delayed several times. Crawford replaces Tim Harrison, who left to become the VC athletics dean on Nov. 3. Crawford should be on campus by July 1.

The Indianapolis Star reports that former Buena High star Freddie Keiaho will return to the Colts.

The Colts cut ties with Keiaho, a two-year starter at linebacker, in February.

Through 18 of 36 holes at the WSC Championships at Santa Maria Country Club, the Ventura College men's golf team is a strong second, shooting 377, eight strokes behind leaders Santa Barbara City College. Moorpark was fourth with 387.

Ventura's Russell Boring shot a team-best 70 in the first round, followed by Ryan Turner (73), Alton Anderson (76) and Zack Kanny (77).

Third-place Canyons finished the morning round in seventh place, which solidifies Ventura's second-place position.

Conference standings with 18 rounds to play -- Santa Barbara City 58-12, Ventura 54-16, Canyons 47-23, Citrus 44-26, Bakersfield 40-30, Moorpark 19-51, Hancock 16-54, Glendale 2-68.

Former St. Bonaventure High and Notre Dame defensive back Terrail Lambert, who went undrafted this weekend, has signed a free agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers, according to his agent, Curtis Richardson.

"We knew it was a legit possibility," said Richardson. "But it was a (little) nervewracking because Dallas and (San Francisco) called during the sixth round and said they might take him, but they took someone else.

"He signed with San Francisco right after though so we were happy with that situation."

The Western State Conference champion Moorpark College softball team was seeded No. 13 in the Southern California regional playoffs Friday evening.

The No. 13 Raiders (31-12) will visit No. 5 Fullerton (30-8), runner-up to Cypress in the powerful Orange Empire Conferece, next weekend in a first-round Best-of-3 series. No. 15 Ventura (25-18) will visit No. 2 Cerritos (35-9-1), champion of the South Coast Conference.

The first game will be Saturday, May 2 with the second and possible third games following the next day.

Sophomore Tyler McClure earned silver in the 100-yard backstroke Friday as the Ventura College men's swimming team stood in fourth place after the second of three days at the California Community College championships at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

The Royal High product finished in 51.62 seconds, less than a second behind the winner, Rex Learmouth of Golden West. Ventura's Michael Crowley followed in the 12th place (53.96).

The quartet of McClure, Rafael Ingannamonte, Daniel Colvin and Eric Anderssen finished fifth (1:34.75) in the 200 medley relay. The Pirates' team of Anderssen, Wade Federer, Michael Craft and Chris Baier were also fourth in the 800 freestyle relay.

The Ventura men are in fourth place with 193 points through 24 events. Orange Coast (409 points) leads the meet by 182 points.

The Ventura women will enter today's final day of competition in seventh place (123 points). Santa Rosa leads the meet with 384 points.

Deanna Pickman, Brooke Penney, Cristina Fung and Bonny Bordwell combined to finish sixth (8:02.04) in the 800 freestyle relay, while the quartet of Fung, Jacqueline O'Hagan, Kendall Avrea and Bordwell finished 15th (1:56.38) in the 200 medley relay.

Bordwell and Penney were seventh (1:58.25) and 14th (1:59.13) in the 200 freestyle. O'Hagan was 12th (2:16.92) in the 200 intermediate medley.

Baier was eighth (1:43.87) in the 200 freestyle, while teammates Anderssen and Craft followed in 14th (1:44.59) and 15th (1:44.89).

Colvin and Federer were 10th (51.22) and 11th (51.27) in the 50 butterfly. In the 100 breast stroke, Ingannamonte was 10th (1:00.57) and Juan Camero was 15th (1:01.65). Tyler Pool was 12th (4:18.61) in the 400 intermediate medley.

Ventura College men's basketball assistant coach Jon Wyers has accepted the head boys' basketball position at Villanova Prep.

In two years in Ventura, Wyers has helped Ventura to 50 wins and a pair of Western State Conference titles.

Wyers said assistant coach Dan Placial will remain with the program. He has also spoken to former Ventura guard Andre Jamerson about a potential role with the Wildcats.

Wyers will remain at Ventura, which isn't without precedent. Oxnard College men's basketball assistant Jeff Perrault also coached at Thousand Oaks High last season.

Wyers lives in Ventura with his wife Tonya and stepson Bryan, 7.

The Ventura College men's swimming team's first shot at state relay glory came up a second short Thursday night.

The quartet of Eric Anderssen, Michael Craft, Daniel Colvin and Tyler McClure finished second in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:23.15.

Orange Coast took both the relay (1:22.46) and the first-day team lead at the California Community College swimming and diving champions at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach. Ventura sits in fourth place with 100 points, 92 behind the leaders.

"It was a great race," said Ventura coach Larry Baratte. "We just came up a little short."

McClure, Rafael Ingannamonte, Wade Federer and Colvin finished fourth (3:28.75) in the 400 medley relay.

Behind a pair of fifth-place finishers, the Ventura women sit in seventh with 73 points, 53 behind leaders Sierra.

Brooke Penney finished fifth (24.32) in the 50 freestlye. Deanna Pickman and Bonny Bordwell finished fifth (5:13.17) and 12th (5:18.97) in the 500 freestyle.

Jacqueline O'Hagan finished 13th (1:02.90) in the 100 individual medley.

The quartet of Brooke Penney, Cristina Fung, Deanna Pickman and Bonny Bordwell finished eighth (1:40.76) in the 200 freestyle relay. The quartet of Fung, O'Hagan, Kendall Avrea and Penney finished 10th (4:08.23) in the 400 medley relay.

The Ventura men had three of its four participants score in the 50-yard freestyle.

Eric Anderssen was fifth (21.13), while Daniel Colvin and Michael Craft followed in 11th (21.19) and 14th (21.68), respectively.

Chris Baier finished fifth (4:40.05) in the 500 freestyle.

Tyler Pool and Rafael Ingannamonte finished 16th (1:59.62) and 21st (2:00.85) in the 200 intermediate medley.

It was yet another big game Thursday afternoon for the host Ventura College baseball team, which fell for the 10th straight time to Cuesta, 9-6,

Despite Garrett Rau's bases-clearing triple, Mike Yingling's 3-for-4 performance at the plate and two more hits by Collin LaVoie, Cuesta managed to complete its second straight five-game season sweep over the host Pirates with a 9-6 win Thursday afternoon.

In its 10-game streak over Ventura, Cuesta has snapped six Ventura winning streaks over the past two years, including streaks of eight, seven, seven and five games.

The third-place Pirates, which fell five games behind the first-place Cougars in the Western State Conference's North Division, had won 11 of 12 games entering Wednesday's game.

The WSC North was ranked No. 4 among the state's 12 divisions in this week's RPI report.

Cuesta was ranked No. 5 in Southern California last week, with Hancock and Ventura following at No. 14 and No. 18, respectively.

Third-place Ventura plays another big game against second-place Hancock Saturday afternoon at home.

The WSC Track and Field Championships are this weekend in Bakersfield.

Moorpark's 4x100-meter relay team of Brittni Showers, Calyx Schentrup, Katie Dana and Cara Jones broke the school record for the second time this season Saturday at Ventura, finishing in 49.22 seconds.

Showers, a sophomore, qualified in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 hurdles, and also runs on both relay teams.

Ventura leads the conference in qualifiers in the women's throws events, with 14. Randi Hicks, Holly Russell and Kyndle Ruby swept the javelin event at last weekend's prelims in Ventura. Hicks' mark was 142 feet, three inches.

The Moorpark College softball team roared into the postseason by winning 11 of its last 13 games to clinch its first Western State Conference title since 2002.

The Raiders (31-12) earned the program's 15th WSC title at the plate, hitting .350 as a team along the way to breaking the school record for runs (269) and home runs (22) in a season.

Freshman Bryanne Schwartz and sophomore Bonnie Ward homered on the final day of the regular season, a 6-2 win over Oxnard, to tie and break the previous mark.

"I'm a big line drive coach," said Moorpark coach Kelly Lovato, "but it's exciting to see those balls go over the fence."

Schwartz led the team by hitting .416 with eight home runs, which put her among the Top 10 in the state.

"With our hitting, if we give up four runs, we still expect to win," said Lovato. "It's exciting because we know anything's possible."

Outfielder Cayla Nelson also broke the school record for sacrifices in a season with 16. Nelson is fourth in the state in the category, which is led by Ventura's Kim Pilpil (20).

Lovato, who will take part in the postseason seeding meeting Friday, has run preliminary model for the pairings.

The Raiders expect to be seeded No. 13 and be on the road for the first round's Best-of-3 series next weekend, perhaps at 30-7 Fullerton.

The Ventura College softball team (25-18) clinched second place and an automatic postseason berth with a clutch doubleheader sweep of Santa Barbara City, 5-3 and 10-8, Tuesday.

The final numbers aren't in, but it looks like outfielder Sabrina Gonzalez won the WSC batting title with a .500 average. The Pacifica High product is fourth in the state with 68 hits.

She also leads the state with 12 triples.

The Orange Coast College men's volleyball team eliminated Moorpark in five games, 22-30, 30-18, 27-30, 30-28, 15-12, in Tuesday's state quarterfinal at Raider Pavilion.

The fifth game had been tied at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Until Orange Coast's Doug Astor won a pair of jousts against Moorpark's Jared Furlong to put the visiting Pirates up 12-10.

The Moorpark College men's volleyball team has been pushed into a fifth game in Tuesday night's state quarterfinal at Raider Pavilion.

A block for Orange Coast's Mike Stewart just won the fourth game, 30-28, for the Pirates to force the fifth game.

The fifth game has been tied at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and now 10. Until Orange Coast's Doug Astor won a pair of jousts against Moorpark's Jared Furlong to put the visiting Pirates up 12-10.

Moorpark took Games 1 and 2, 30-22 and 30-27. Orange Coast took Game 2, 30-18.

Moorpark won in three straight games when these two teams met in February. The winner faces Golden West Thursday night at 7 in the state Final Four in Irvine.

The Ventura College men's tennis team brushed aside visiting Riverside, 5-1, Tuesday afternoon. The defending state champions will visit College of the Desert for the Southern California title Tuesday.

Bonnie Ward pitched a three-hitter, striking out seven, and went 3 for 3, with a double and two home runs as the WSC Gold champion Moorpark College softball team finished the regular season with a 6-2 win against Oxnard.

Bry Schwartz went 2 for 3 and hit two homers. Jennifer Irvine went 2 for 4 with one run scored.

Moorpark (31-12, 19-5) awaits the Southern California regional playoff pairings Friday.

The Ventura College softball team swept a doubleheader with Santa Barbara City, 5-3 and 10-8, Tuesday afternoon to clinch second place in the Western State Conference's Gold Division and an automatic berth in the Southern California regional playoffs.

Ventura entered the day a half-game ahead of Cuesta in second place.

Alina Flowers went 2 for 4 with a double in the first game. In the second game, Sabrina Gonzalez went 3 for 5 with a triple and a double. Shianne Sharpe and Shelbi Stallings both homered. Alina Flowers had a double.

The Ventura College baseball team hit into four double plays and saw its 11-game win streak end this afternoon, 9-3, against visiting Moorpark.

Jon Villareal went 2 for 5 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Daniel Nimoy went 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI. Mario Landeros went 3 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Ventura was 11-0 in April and had won the teams three previous meetings.

Third-place Ventura (23-12, 11-9) still leads the fourth-place Raiders (16-19, 9-11) in the WSC North standings.

The Ventura College softball team (23-18, 15-7), sitting in second place in the Western State Conference's Gold Division, must sweep fifth-place Santa Barbara City today to clinch second place and a Southern California regional playoff berth.

Third-place Cuesta (23-20, 15-8) sits a half-game back, plays last-place Los Angeles Pierce and has won the season series with the Pirates.

The Ventura College baseball team will bring 11 straight wins of momentum into a key four-game homestand against Western State Conference opposition this week.

The third-place Pirates (23-11, 11-8) will host fourth-place Moorpark (15-19, 8-11) Tuesday, Los Angeles Pierce Wednesday, first-place Cuesta Thursday and second-place Hancock Saturday.

"The last four (home games) of my career," said sophomore Collin LaVoie. "I'm going to try to enjoy them."

"I told them, 'It's your last hurrah,'" said Ventura coach Donnie Adams.

Garrett Rau was 4-for-5 and starter Blair Walters pitched six strong innings as the visiting Ventura College baseball team won its 11th straight game this month, 7-2, over cross-county rival Moorpark Saturday afternoon.

Rau, who broke Jose Vargas' year-old school record for career hits Wednesday, added a pair of doubles, three RBIs and two runs scored. The Camarillo High product had 11 hits in 15 at bats in three wins last week.

Walters allowed just a pair of hits through five innings until he ran into trouble leading 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth.

Moorpark's Daniel Nimoy and Cliff Quick singled with one out and scored on a double by Mario Landeros.

With the tying run on second, Walters induced a pop out to end the threat.

Max Javate, James Pinto and closer Nolan Rudman provided three innings of scoreless relief as the Pirates' lineup poured on the four insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

Quick was 2 for 4 to pace the Moorpark offense.

Rau got the Pirates off on the right foot, leading off the game with a double and scoring on Rey Garcia's RBI groundout. He made it 2-0 in the fifth with an RBI double off the centerfield wall, which plated catcher Mike Yingling from first base.

LaVoie, batting second behind Rau, was 1 for 2 with three walks, meaning the top two hitters in the Pirates' order reached base eight times in 10 plate appearances.

Along the way to its seventh straight conference championship Saturday in Bakersfield, the Ventura College men's swimming team made its argument as the strongest team in the 25-year history of Western State Conference swimming and diving.

Winning 15 of the 18 individual swimming events over the three-day meet, the Pirates set the record for points in a championship meet by amassing 982 points, surpassing by six points the previous mark owned by Ventura's 2007 edition.

The Pirates nearly doubled the total of second-place Citrus College, which finished with 492 points. Weston Locatell of Citrus was the only non-Ventura swimmer to win a men's swimming event, capturing the 200 intermediate medley and both butterfly events.

The Ventura College women's swimming team survived a strong push from upstart Santa Monica to win the conference championship for the ninth time in 11 years, 714 to 628.

Deanna Pickman won the 1650-yard freestyle in 18:21.80, with Megan Carter following in third (20:16.90).

The quartet of Brooke Penney, Kelsey Michon, Pickman and Bonny Bordwell won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:36.65.

Penney broke the school record in finishing second (52.96) in the 100 freestyle, while Bordwell was third (54.22). Jacqueline O'Hagan was second (1:09.90) in the 100 breast stroke. Kendall Avery was second (1:02.18) in the 100 butterfly. Cristina Fung was third (1:02.57) in the 100 backstroke.

On the men's side, freshman Daniel Colvin won the 100 freestyle in 45.50, breaking the four-year-old conference record of former Ventura star Cheyne O'Gorman. Eric Anderssen and Michael Craft followed in second (45.57) and third (46.72) for a Top 3 sweep.

Chris Baier and Mike Lee finished first (16:59.38) and second (17:08.15) in the 1650 freestyle.

Tyler McClure and Michael Crowley finished first (1:53.49) and second (1:58.63) in the 200 backstroke.

Rafael Ingannamonte won the 200 breast stroke in 2:11.65.

Wade Federer and Tyler Pool finished second (2:02.10) and third (2:02.70), respectively, in the 200 butterfly.

The 400 freestyle relay quartet of McClure, Colvin, Baier and Anderssen capped the weekend by obliterating the conference record in the final event. The time of 3:03.41 bettered the previous record by nearly four seconds.

The Ventura College swimming teams won conference titles in seven events Friday, the second day of the Western State Conference Championships in Bakersfield, where the Pirate men finished 1-2 in four different individual events.

Michael Craft and Eric Anderssen finished first (1:43.72) and second (1:43.86), respectively in the 200-yard freestyle. Rafael Ingannamonte and Juan Camero finished first (1:00.28) and second (1:00.86) in the 100 breastroke. Tyler Pool and Chris Baier finished first (4:17.30) and second (4:18.03) in the men's 400 intermediate medley.

Tyler McClure and Michael Crowley finished first (51.53) and second (53.55) in the 100 backstroke. McClure's mark set the school record.

"The men are just in a dominating position this year," said Ventura coach Larry Baratte. "Every school has some strong swimmers, but our depth just kills everybody."

With 700 points, the Ventura men's leads Cuesta (329) and Citrus (316) by a healthy margin going into the final day of competition.

The Ventura women used a strong performance in the 200 freestyle event to build a 33-point lead on Santa Monica, 482-449, with Cuesta (354) in third.

Bonny Bordwell (1:58.40), Brooke Penney (1:58.49), Deanna Pickman (2:01.96) and Kelsey Michon (2:02.81) swept the first four places in the 200 freestyle.

"That really helped us there," said Baratte. "It's puts us in a good position to win (the meet) now."

The Ventura men swept both relays. The quartet of Tyler McClure, Juan Camero, Wade Federer, Eric Anderssen captured the 200 medley relay in a conference record of 1:34.82. The quartet of Chris Baier, Daniel Colvin, Wade Federer and Micheal Craft won the 800 free relay in 7:01.58.

For the women, Cristina Fung, Kelsey Michon, Deanna Pickman, Bonny Bordwell took the 800 freestyle relay in 8:08.80, while Fung, Jackie O'Hagan, Kendall Avrea and Brooke Penney finished second (1:54.56) in the 200 medley relay.

Colvin, Federer and Crowley swept second (51.26), third (51.40) and fourth (51.98) in the men's 100 butterfly.

O'Hagan and Fung were third and fifth, respectively in the women's 200 intermediate medley. Kendall Avrea was fourth in the 50 butterfly. Aja Ming was third in the 50 backstroke.

In search of its seventh straight Western State Conference title, the Ventura College men's swimming team has already distanced itself at the WSC Championships in Bakersfield, piling up 321 points in the first day of competition Thursday.

Second-place Citrus sits 204 points back with 117.

Meanwhile, the Ventura women hold a three-point edge in its tight race with Santa Monica, 233-230

Ventura broke both conference records in the men's and women's 200-yard free relays.
The quartet of Heather Webster, Bonny Bordwell, Deanna Pickman and Brooke Penny finished in 1:39:67, snapping Ventura's 4-year-old mark by more than two seconds.

The quartet of Daniel Colvin, Eric Anderssen, Michael Craft and Tyler McClure finished in 1:22.90, breaking Ventura's 2-year-old mark by a second and a half.

Along the way to winning the men's 50 free, Daniel Colvin tied the conference record in 20.81. Eric Anderson (second, 21.09), Michael Craft (third, 21.22) and Tyler McClure (fourth, 21.51) gave the Pirates a Top 4 sweep in the event.

Brooke Penney set a school record while finishing second in the women's 50 free (24.31).
Chris Baier won the men's 500 free in 4:42.92, with Mike Lee (second, 4:53.20) and Wade Federer (fourth, 4:55.86) following. Pickman took the women's 500 free in 5:14.72, with Bonny Bordwell (5:18.92) following in third.

The team of Michael Crowley, Ingannamonte, Colvin and Craft took the men's 400 medley relay (3:31.89), while the group of Cristina Fung, Jackie O'Hagan, Kendall Avrea and Penney finished second (4:07.22) in the women's event.

Rafael Ingannamonte (1:59.79), Jude Kiesewetter (2:01.27) and Juan Camero (2:01.90) were second, third and fifth in the men's 200 intermediate medley. Jackie O'Hagan (1:02.46) and Cristina Fung (1:04.90) were second and fifth, respectively, in the women's 100 intermediate medley.

Twin shutouts by freshman Taylor Neumann and sophomore Bonnie Ward against cross-country rival Ventura clinched the host Raiders' first Western State Conference championship in seven years Thursday afternoon.

Backed by near flawless defense highlighted by stalwart third baseman Michelle Zakosek, the pitching pair made it look a lot easier than it felt.

Barely a month into the rebirth of her pitching career, Neumann, Moorpark's starting catcher, improved to 6-2 by scattering four hits and inducing 12 ground ball outs over seven shutout innings of a 2-0 Game 1 victory.

Little more than a year after sustaining a knee ligament injury that left her pitching future in doubt, Ward picked up her 20th win of the season, 1-0, with a three-hit shutout.

The sweep ballooned a half-game lead to two and a half with one day to play. Moorpark (30-12, 18-5) faces Oxnard Tuesday while Ventura (23-16, 15-7) has a doubleheader with Santa Barbara City.

"Ventura and Cuesta have been the teams to beat," said Moorpark coach Kelly Lovato. "It's just sweet to do this at home with two shutouts."

Moorpark built an early 2-0 lead in the first game on Jennifer Irvine's second-inning RBI single, after Ward had left off with a double off the left-center field wall, and Ward's third-inning RBI single, which followed Kristen Torres' single and Zakosek's double with one out.

But infield singles by Ventura's Kim Pilpil and Ashley Dasnoit put the tying runs on base with no outs in the sixth.

The Raiders' exhales came in the form of line drive to shortstop Jamie Yaller, who quickly started the triple play.

Moorpark led nearly the whole way in the second game, taking the lead in the bottom of the first inning as Neumann reached on an infield misplay, was moved over twice by sacrifices and scored on a passed ball.

While the Ventura College men's swimming team is in a dominant position entering this weekend's Western State Conference championships in Bakersfield, the Ventura women have a race on their hands.

Santa Monica enters the women's meet a perfect 6-0 in dual meets, having defeated Ventura 61-50 on March 27, just the Pirates' second loss in 78 dual meets since 1998.

"It should be a close meet based upon the seeding," said Ventura coach Larry Baratte. "It should be real exciting."

Ventura (6-1) is led by returning All-Americans Brooke Penney, Jacqueline O'Hagan and Bonny Bordwell.

Returning All-Americans Chris Baier, Tyler McClure and Eric Anderssen have the Ventura men on the cusp of the program's seventh straight WSC title.

Freshmen Daniel Colvin, Rafael Ingannamonte, Michael Craft, Michael Crowley, Juan Cameron and Wade Federer will also be vying to qualify for next week's state championships in Long Beach.

"There are two goals," said Barrate. "To come away with a conference championship and as qualify as many swimmer as we can for the state meet.

"We want as many bullets in the gun as we can get."

The Moorpark College men's volleyball team (14-2) will open the Southern California regional playoffs against Orange Coast, the third-place finisher from the Pacific Coast Conference, Tuesday night at 6 at Raider Pavilion.

The Ventura College Sportsplex will host the WSC track and field prelims Saturday at 11 a.m.

The WSC Championships will be held April 25 at Bakersfield.

The WSC Gold Division race between the Moorpark and Ventura softball teams is headed down to the wire.

Host Moorpark (28-12, 16-5) leads cross-county rival Ventura (23-16, 15-5) by a half game entering today's doubleheader on the penultimate day of the season.

Seven of the top eight hitters in the WSC, statistically, will be on display today at Moorpark.

Ventura center fielder Sabrina Gonzalez, a Pacifica High product, leads the WSC in hitting at .462.

"She's a great center fielder," said Ventura coach Sue Johnson. "She's quick, she's fast, she's a natural lefty batter. She just has a really powerful swing and she's making good contact."

After second-place Julienne Jimenez of Los Angeles Mission, Gonzalez is followed in the WSC hitting charts by Moorpark's Kristen Torres (.443), Ventura's Shelbi Stallings (.423), Moorpark's Michelle Zakosek (.421), Moorpark's Bryanne Schwartz (.417), Moorpark's Taylor Neumann (.403) and Ventura's Ashley Dasnoit (.395).

The Ventura College baseball team will resume WSC North play today at Oxnard on the crest of an eight-game winning streak.

The third-place Pirates (20-12, 9-8), who trail second-place Hancock by two games, went 6-0 in non-conference play over Spring break.

The 28-8 win over Oxnard on April 4 was Ventura's record win in the rivalry.

Former Ventura College men's basketball Greg Winslow will be paid while the Ventura County Community College district attempts to terminate him.

Ron Bamieh, the attorney for former Ventura College men's basketball coach Greg Winslow, distributed a news release today saying that Winslow has been notified by the Ventura County Community College district that the former coach will be recommended for suspension without pay at tonight's board meeting.

Click the jump for the full news release from Bamieh and Ericksson Law:

The Ventura College baseball team picked up its eighth straight win and 20th win of the season at Glendale 8-1 Saturday afternoon.

The Pirates went 6-0 over Spring Break.

Opponents of the Ventura College baseball team this spring have experienced the competitive equivalent of death by a thousand cuts.

The Pirates may not have last year's slugging trio of Jose Vargas, Brett Fick and Zack Anderson, but it doesn't mean they aren't scoring runs in bunches this season.

In fact, after Wednesday's wins over Los Angeles Valley and Barstow by a combined 35-7 margin, Ventura (17-11) is threatening its school record by averaging 9.6 runs per game.

"We're not the same power team, but we can hit," said coach Donnie Adams. "We don't look that impressive. We just kind of single you to death."

Ventura is averaging about 11 hits per game. And about nine of them are singles.
Seven regulars are hitting better than .300, including A.J. Gallardo (.393), Reynoldo Garcia (.388), Garrett Rau (.378), Collin LaVoie (.348), Joe Ramirez (.341), Blair Walters (.340) and Brandon Young (.314).

"It's definitely been a team effort," said Adams.

Which has enabled the Pirates to record the biggest victories in program history over each of its county rivals. Ventura beat Moorpark 29-1 on March 17 and Oxnard 28-8 on Saturday.

"It was just one of those days," said Adams of Saturday's win.

Beginning with the Oxnard series, Ventura has won five straight, which snapped a five-game losing streak. Which snapped a seven-game winning streak. Which snapped a three-game losing streak.

Get the picture?

"We've definitely been on a roller coaster," said Adams.

If Ventura can smooth out the road, it still has plenty of postseason possibilities. Sitting in third place of the Western State Conference's North Division at 9-8, Ventura is four games behind 13-4 Cuesta and two games behind 11-6 Hancock.

"We have to get ahead of (Hancock) because we won the series," said Adams. "That's going to make it even tougher."

Second place comes with an automatic playoff berth and the division's past three third-place finishers have also made the Southern California regional playoffs.

Which makes Friday's visit of Los Angeles Mission and Saturday's trip to Glendale, both potential third-place finishers in the WSC South, all the more important.

"Those will be big games because they can affect seeding," said Adams. "We have to try to up our non-conference record."

Adams may want to try to convince his singles hitters that they're going up against a county foe.

A week to go before the potential rivalry showdown between the Moorpark College (26-11, 14-4) and Ventura College (20-16, 14-5) softball teams, separated by a half game in the WSC Gold Division standings, contest a doubleheader on the penultimate day of the conference season.

The Cal Lutheran baseball team rebounded from its home loss to Redlands in dominating fashion yesterday with Mike Roe and Chase Tigert tossing complete-game shutouts to lead CLU to 11-0 and 2-0 victories at Redlands.

Redlands hit only .145 (9 for 62) and had only one extra base hit, just one day after beating CLU 5-3 at Ullman Stadium.

Roe, a Simi Valley High graduate, improved to 4-0 and had at least one strikeout in five of the first six innings. The senior right-hander finished the game with his career-high seventh strikeout of the game.

The last time CLU pitchers tossed back-to-back complete games was in 1994 when Sam Arroyo and Marc Weiss beat La Verne 2-0 and 4-0, respectively.

CLU (22-6, 10-2) is two games back of Pomona-Pitzer (25-3, 12-0) in the SCIAC race. The Kingsmen will host a non-conference series against Menlo (11-14) with a single game on Thursday at 3 p.m. and a Friday doubleheader scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

The application deadline for the vacant Ventura College men's basketball head coaching position was Friday.

Camarillo native and Rio Mesa High graduate Ed Madec, who led Fresno City College to a state championship in 2007, said Friday that he did not apply.

Under Madec, who played for current Moorpark College coach Remy McCarthy at Oxnard College, Fresno won its first 34 games this past season before falling to eventual state champion Riverside in the state quarterfinals.

Several local coaches reported that interest in the position seemed to come more from the high school and Division I levels than community college.

Nebraska assistant Phil Mathews, already inducted in the VC Athletic Hall of Fame for guiding the Pirates to state championships in 1987 and 1995, has applied, although he is also in the mix at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The San Luis Obispo Tribune reported last week that Mathews was among several coaches with Division I head coaching experience to apply for the Mustangs job, including former San Diego coach Brad Holland, former St. Louis coach Brad Soderberg and CSU San Bernardino coach Jeff Oliver, the former Buena High star and VC assistant coach.

Clutch performances have kept the Moorpark College softball team ahead of the pack in the Western State Conference.

It all began with a seven-run seventh inning in the come-from-behind 11-6 win at Los Angeles Pierce March 12.

Then came Taylor Neumann's game-winning three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh of a 4-3 win over Cuesta on March 19.

The heroics continued last week with Kristen Torres' game-winning RBI single in the eighth inning of a 10-9 extra-winning win over Ventura March 24 and Tara Hale's seventh-innning RBI single in the 1-0 win over Oxnard March 26.

"We've had a few of those," said Moorpark coach Kelly Lovato. "They like to do it in one inning or the last inning."

The Raiders (20-9, 12-3) have needed ever clutch hit to maintain its slight edge over Ventura (17-13, 11-4) entering today's home doubleheader against Santa Barbara City.

The top three places in Monday's WSC golf match at Debell Golf Course in Glendale were separated by a single stroke, as Canyons (369) edged Ventura (370) and Santa Barbara City (371).

Ventura's Zack Kanny earned the match medal with a 69, which moved him into fourth in the WSC's individual standings at 72.75 per round.

Ventura (25-10) sits five matches behind co-leaders Canyons and Santa Barbara (30-5) entering Monday's home match at Saticoy Country Club.

Ventura College swimming coach Larry Baratte is looking forward to learning just what type of team he has this season.

The Ventura men enter Saturday's final WSC meet at Ventura College at 4-0, even with Cuesta, one week before the WSC Championships at Bakersfield College.

"We've got 22 guys and 15 girls," said Baratte. "It's a pretty deep team and a pretty solid team. I think a lot of questions will be answered about what we are at the conference meet.

"I think we're in the hunt, I'm just not quite sure yet."

In a rematch of its state dual team triumph from last spring, the defending state champion Ventura College men's tennis team leveled Fresno 8-1 Saturday afternoon at home.

"It was a good midterm test," said Ventura coach Nelson Emery. "They're definitely the best team in the North. If we should meet them in the state finals, its nice to have already beaten them."

The Pirates (12-1) lone loss came against Southern California rival Desert on March 8 in Palm Desert. The playoffs begin April 14.

Desert and Ventura look like No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively.

"It's heading that way," said Emery.

Cuesta remains the mountain to climb in the WSC North for the Ventura College baseball team.

The Pirates were within one game of the Cougars a fortnight ago after sweeping a two-game series with Moorpark by a historic 36-2 margin.

But Cuesta, which has won 10 of the past 12 WSC North titles, swept Ventura 7-1 and 15-4 March 21 and 24, respectively, and the Pirates have now lost five straight.

Cuesta (20-10, 13-2) leads Hancock (17-12, 10-5) and Ventura (12-11, 7-8) by three and six games, respectively. The Cougars held off second-place Ventura by four games last spring.

Despite being 11-2, it doesn't look like the Moorpark College men's volleyball team will win the Western State Conference title.

The Raiders (11-2, 4-2) fell in four games to first-place Long Beach City (12-1, 6-0) March 25. Both of their losses have been to the Vikings.

"Long Beach is tough this year," said Moorpark coach Steve Burkhart. "Our goal now is to try to get second (place) and get a home (playoff) game."

Moorpark's setback may hold a silver lining, as the Raiders were also swept by Long Beach during their state championship season of 2005.

The Raiders host Santa Monica Wednesday and El Camino Friday.

Randi Hicks' big season continued last week as the Ventura College sophomore grabbed two first-place medals at the Easter Relays at Santa Barbara City, winning the javelin (137.4 feet) and shot put (39.1) events March 21.