Ducey’s Solo Home Run Gets Gulls to the Dock on Time

The Gulls were scheduled to tour the Ventura Harbor aboard a yacht after their game with the Reno Padres on Saturday.

But when the teams entered the 10th inning with the score tied at two, it looked liked the Ventura County team would miss its 3 p.m. departure.

Gulls’ right fielder Rob Ducey made sure his teammates didn’t miss the boat.

Ducey cruised around the bases after hitting a solo home run over the right-field fence in the bottom of the 10th that gave the Gulls a 3-2 win in a Class-A California League game at Ventura College.

“I wasn’t trying to hit the ball out of the park,” said Ducey, who went 3 for 5 and scored twice. “I thought I had just hit a fly ball and that the right fielder was going to catch it. I was running out a fly ball like you’re supposed to. I looked up and the ball was going out.”

Ducey’s home run off losing pitcher Sam Lynch gave the Gulls their second win of the season and also got Ducey off the hook. He had made an error in right field that gave Reno a brief 2-1 lead in the seventh.

The scored was tied at one until the seventh, when Gulls relief pitcher Willie Shanks surrendered a leadoff single to Scott Parsons. One out later, catcher Scott Rainey hit a fly ball to right field that gave Ducey trouble.

He fought the wind and the uneven outfield terrain, and ultimately lost the battle with nature when the ball caromed off his glove for an error. Parsons scored from first, and Reno had the lead.

“I was a little bitter with myself for doing that,” Ducey said. “Anytime that happens, I try to do something to make up for it.”

Reno’s lead didn’t last long. Center fielder Pablo Rivera answered Ducey’s error when he misplayed a fly ball by Oscar Escobar that allowed Darryl Landrum to come home from third base with the tying run in the seventh.

Gulls pitcher Jeff Musselman, a left-hander who has a degree in economics from Harvard, was impressive in his first start. He gave up one unearned run on two hits and had six strikeouts in 5 innings. After Shanks worked two innings, Mark Dickman pitched the final 2 innings to get the win.

The Gulls had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning off Reno starter Eric Bauer when Ducey doubled and scored on a single by Greg Meyers. That was the first of three singles for Meyers.

Reno tied the game in the sixth inning when Rivera scored from third on an error by Gulls third baseman Omar Malave.

Notes

Ventura County’s Todd Provence and Hugh Brinson are the starting pitchers for the Gulls in today’s doubleheader that begins at noon.