Rally Falls Short, Hancock Baseball Falls 5-4 to Ventura

Wyatt Coll collected three hits to lead a 13-hit attack, but a late rally by the Allan Hancock College baseball team fell short in the Bulldogs' 5-4 loss at home to Ventura College Thursday afternoon. The Bulldogs fell to 6-10 in Western State Conference play and 14-22 overall. Ventura improved to 8-8 in league and 18-18 on the season.

Ventura took the lead for good with a two-run second and a three-run third inning against Hancock starting pitcher Phillip Martin. The freshman allowed five runs and seven hits in three innings. He fell to 0-5 on the season.  Left-hander Evan Sonny struck out seven and allowed just two hits in six-shutout innings of relief to keep the Bulldogs in the game.

The Bulldogs got on the board in the fourth inning when Nash Ackerman reached on a fielder's choice allowing Walker Armstrong to race home from third. Hancock trailed 5-1 until the seventh when Kyle von Tillow tripled to the gap to drive in Ryan Peinado to make it a 5-2 game. Coll stepped in and singled home von Tillow to cut the deficit to 5-3.

The Bulldogs rallied with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth. Coll singled to extend the game. Josh Harmonay singled moving Coll over to third. Quinntin Perez pinch hit and delivered a two-out single to drive in Coll and move Harmonay to second as the tying run. However, both runners were stranded when the final out was recorded.  

Coll went 3-for-5 with a RBI. Harmonay, Armstrong and von Tillow had two hits apiece for the Bulldogs, who outhit the Pirates 13-9.

Hancock will return to action Friday when Moorpark visits at 2:30 p.m. in a game rescheduled from last week.