Ventura’s Jay Navarro was dealing and Santa Barbara High’s defense was reeling against a well-executed small-ball attack by the Cougars.
Ventura used that combination to post a 5-0 win over the Dons in a Channel League baseball opener on Friday at Eddie Mathews Field.
Navarro shut down a Santa Barbara offense that a day earlier scored 14 runs. He struck out 11, walked only one and scattered seven hits in a complete-game performance.
The senior righthander was supported by an aggressive offense that pressured Santa Barbara’s infield with sound bunting skills. The Cougars (5-3, 1-0) used a sacrifice bunt by Keaton Garibaldi to set up their first run in the second inning off Dons’ starter Jeff Paschke. Steven Ledesma singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on Garibaldi’s sacrifice and scored on groundout by Richard Massey.
After a two-out double by Matt Gibson scored Andrew Schaffer in the third inning for a 2-0 lead, the Cougars used small-ball tactics again to score three runs in the sixth and essentially put the game away. With Connor McManigal on the mound, three Ventura batters bunted to get on base in the inning as the Dons’ defense struggled to make plays.
It was a big blow to Santa Barbara (4-2-1, 0-1), which an inning earlier stranded two runners.
“I just give them all the credit,” Santa Barbara coach Fred Warrecker said of the Cougars. “They had three hits to the outfield the whole game, but they played little ball very well, bunting and everything like that. The bunts were worth four runs and a sac fly was the fifth.”
First-year Ventura coach Matt Villegas said it’s his philosophy to pressure defenses using small-ball tactics.
“We have good team speed and we want to utilize that speed and be fundamentally sound offensively as well,” he said.
On Navarro’s performance, Villegas said: “He had command of every single one of his pitches today. Probably for the first time this season he was able to focus in and throw his off-speed stuff, his fastball. Basically, we put the ball on his shoulders and he took control of it today.”
Warrecker was impressed.
“He snuffed us. It’s really as simple as that,” said Warrecker of Navarro’s pitching.
Ventura’s overall performance showed that Villegas has turned things around in the program.
“When I came in I wanted to build a program based on chemistry,” he said. “There’s not one superstar out here that’s going to help us. From top to bottom, we’re going to need everybody. The chemistry is what I plan to develop. We’ve done it with our practices and it’s carried over into the games. Today was an outstanding show of chemistry.”
He admitted, though, that even with a 5-0 lead he didn’t feel relaxed until the final out was made.
“I liken this place to Yankee Stadium,” he said of Eddie Mathews Field. “Until we got that last out, you never know what the ghosts of Santa Barbara are going to do.”
