Baseball:

By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor

The Ventura County Pirates earned the Best of the West League championship on Friday night at Cal Poly Pomona.

VCP defeated the Inland Valley Pirates, 6-4, in the first game of a best-of-three series.

After the final out in the top of the ninth inning, IVP manager Charlie Reynoso alerted VCP skipper, George Vranau, that Inland Valley would not have enough pitching to continue the series.

The announcement set off a celebration amongst the VCP players and their fans.

It was their second championship in five years.

In 2022, VCP won five of their six games against the IVP.

Alex Abbott went four innings and allowed one run on five hits.

He walked one and struck out four IVP batters.

Kellan Montgomery provided two scoreless and hitless innings, walking three and striking out one.

Dylan Goodrich got the save, going two innings and allowing one run on one hit.

Goodrich walked two and fanned a pair of Inland Valley batters.

Anthony Gibbons walked, tripled and scored.

Conner McKinney singled, doubled, scored and had an RBI.

Gabriel Rico singled, scored and drove in a run.

Anthony McFarland had an RBI single.

Nathaniel Garcia went 2-for-4 for the IVP, and Bret Bowers walked four times and scored once.

Wyatt Johnson got the loss, allowing four runs on six hits over his five innings on Friday.

Johnson walked five and struck out five VCP batters.

Darren Taylor singled, doubled and drove in a pair of runs.

Daniel Laughery walked, singled twice, scored two runs and had one RBI.

Nolan Lingley had a big night, going 2-for-4, with a double and a game-high three RBIs.

Andrew Tovar doubled and scored.

Andrew Buglino was solid throughout the 2022 season behind the plate, and batted just under the .300 mark, with 25 hits, 14 runs and 13 RBIs.

On Friday, the VCP catcher walked and singled.

Angelo Aleman went 2-for-4 and Quintt Landis walked three times and scored once.

Eli Paton singled and scored for VCP.

Jovan Camacho walked and scored.

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Box Score:
IVP: 0-0-0-1-0-0-2-1-0-(4)
VCP: 0-1-1-2-0-1-1-0-0-(6)

Win: Alex Abbott
Loss: Wyatt Johnson
Save: Dylan Goodrich

3B: Anthony Gibbons (IVP)
2B: Conner McKinney (IVP); Darren Taylor (VCP), Nolan Lingley (VCP), Andrew Tovar (VCP)

Records: IVP (18-7-1); VCP (20-6)

Sunset League Players of the Week:

Quintt Landis, Ventura County Pirates:

Landis went 8-for-15 in a week that his Pirates claimed the BOTW title.

He walked twice, hit two HR’s, scored four runs and had six RBIs.

This season, Landis batted .395 with 15 hits, scored nine runs and had nine RBIs.

The Pirates will open the playoffs on Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s Dodgers-So Cal Shepherds wild card game.

Juan Guardado, East Los Angeles Dodgers:

Guardado went 10-for-19 and scored four runs.

He walked twice, had two doubles, one HR and two RBIs.

For the season, Guardado hit. .300, with 21 hits, 16 runs and had eight RBIs.

The Dodgers face the So Cal Shepherds today (Tuesday) in a BOTW wild card game.

Hayden Winters, IV Bucs:

Winters finished the 2022 regular season, going 7-of-14.

He scored three runs, doubled twice and had one triple.

For the year, Winters batted .360, with 18 hits and scored 12 runs.

He had six doubles, two triples, two home runs and had a team-high 14 RBIs.

The Bucs finished last in the BOTW standings.

Story Link: Quintt Landis (VC Pirates), Juan Guardado (East LA Dodgers) & Hayden Winters (IV Bucs) Named Best of the West League Players of the Week - Welcome (210prepsports.com)