Twenty-six miles and three freeways separate the two Ventura County rivals, but on Tuesday, April 12, the Raiders got the last laugh and defeated the Pirates, 2-0, in the final game between the two this season.

Dalton Duarte was able to hit the walk-off homerun late in the game to bring in teammate Riley Conlan. Pitcher Zak Daniels also enjoyed a great day as he threw for seven shut-out innings with 11 strikeouts.

Redshirt freshman pitcher Christian Apodaca was very excited that the team was able to beat Ventura, but knew that there was still work to be done to win the Western State Conference Northern division.

“[We] just gotta keep throwing strikes, and pitchers don’t give out free walks,” said Apodaca. “[We] also need to keep hitting consistently.”

With the victory, the Raiders are now sitting at a 13-16 overall record and a conference record on now 9-8. They still will more than likely have to win out the rest of their games in order to win the WSC Northern division and sneak into postseason action.

Moorpark will be back in action this Thursday at home as they face off against conference opponent Cuesta with a 2:30 p.m. start time.