Baseball:

For the second consecutive game, the Ventura County Bucs saw their bats come to life in a big way.

On Monday, VCB snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 9-4 victory over Orange County by out-hitting the Juice, 15-8.

On Tuesday, the Bucs pounded out an 11-4 victory over the first-place Arroyo Seco Sentinels at Brookside Park in a Baseball Census Collegiate Summer League game.

Ventura County collected 18 hits, compared to seven for Arroyo Seco, and five separate VCB batters had three hits apiece.

Ryan Graves was charged with the loss after surrendering five runs on seven hits over three innings.

Graves issued a pair of walks and struck out one.

Ryker Billingsley walked, singled, had two doubles, scored twice and drove in one.

Nicholas Mattera went 3-for-5 with two doubles and four runs scored.

Will Kaczynski had three singles, two runs and a pair of RBIs.

Simon Hoffman went 3-for-4 with a walk, run and three RBIs.

Dylan Taguiam singled three times and drove in a pair of runs.

Jarrett Segura drew a pair of walks, singled and scored.

Hudson Story walked, singled, scored and had one RBI.

John Trainor earned the win after going four innings and allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits.

Trainor walked two and fanned three Sentinels.

Anthony Cuevas provided five innings, and he surrendered one run on three hits.

Cuevas walked one and struck out two batters.

Devon Eskridge went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Cider Canon singled, scored and drove in one.

Devin Munoz singled in a run.

Rocco Regan singled and scored.

Will Allen walked and singled.

Doug Pyle walked and scored, and Bryan Richman scored once in Tuesday’s loss.

Up next: Both programs will be in action on Wednesday.

The Sentinels meet up with the Arroyo Seco Royals at 4:30 at Biola.

And the Bucs battle the San Gabriel Valley Monarchs at Ben Hines Field in La Verne at 4.

I asked Ventura County’s/former Chino Hills’ Ryker Billingsley the following: What went wrong during that 10-game losing streak? In the last two days, you guys have pounded out 33 hits. What has changed or why in your opinion have you guys found your stride again? Lastly, do you feel like this new league is going to be helpful as each of you goes back to school?

Said Ryker Billingsley: “Prior to the 10-game skid, we had a pretty decent record and I felt like as a group we got comfortable with where we were at. Granted, we also had some unlucky breaks and injuries, but our overall intensity and focus was not as sharp. That all snowballed quickly, and we had a hard time getting things going. We struggled defensively and hitting with runners in scoring position. Prior to the last two games, our general manager had a couple different conversations with us as a group about how we can turn things around. He spoke to us about how we can step up our intensity and focus, which could allow us to play to our full potential. He emphasized playing the game right and taking care of the details.

In this game, hitting is contagious and recently our offense has caught fire. But also in this game, there will be days where it won’t come as easy, and we will have to scrap and fight for runs. I definitely think this league will benefit all of us. The best way to get better at something is to do it every day. Live game reps are preparing us as players to be ready for our schools. We are playing on college level fields, with college level rules and umpires. Programs like Ventura County emphasizes the things we will have to do at school, such as bunts and hit and runs. I’ve also seen a lot of talent in this league as well, which keeps the competitiveness high.”

Box Score:
B: 2-0-3-2-1-0-0-3-0-(11)
S: 0-0-1-0-2-1-0-0-0-(4)

Win: John Trainor
Loss: Ryan Graves

2B: Ryker Billingsley (B) 2, Nicholas Mattera (B) 2

Records: Bucs (7-11); Sentinels (13-6-1)