Ventura County Gulls

Who: Ventura County Gulls baseball team What: First-year member of Class-A California League Affiliation: Toronto Where: Home games at Ventura College, 4667 Telegraph Road, Ventura When: Season begins today and runs through Aug. 31. Stadium Capacity: 1,500 Time: 1 p.m. on weekdays until May, then 4 p.m; Saturdays 1 p.m.; Sunday doubleheaders, 1 p.m. Stadium Dimensions: 315 feet down right-field line; 335 down left-field line; 485 to center.

The Mudville Nine may strike out in Stockton, but Mighty Casey might get another at bat in Ventura County. Although two minor league baseball teams have failed to make it in the county in the past 15 years, owners of the Stockton-based Mudville Nine are considering relocating here if they can find at least 25 acres on which to build a $20-million, 5,000-seat ballpark and parking area, said Tom Seidler, president of Top of the Third, a group that bought the baseball team two years ago.

Kent Anderson scored on Pete Coachman's one-out single to center field in the bottom of the eighth to lead Palm Springs to a 3-2 win at home Wednesday over the Ventura County Gulls. Ventura County trailed after four innings, 2-0, but scored in the fifth when Omar Malave went home on a sacrifice fly by Eric Yelding. The Gulls tied the score in the seventh on a home run by Ken Kinnard.

Bad news continues to roll in for the Ventura County Gulls with the latest installment of gloom coming from Stockton where the Gulls dropped their fifth straight California League game. But at least the Gulls didn't take Saturday night's 3-2 defeat quietly, engaging in a bench-clearing brawl in the eighth inning after Stockton pitcher Martin Montano hit Luis Reyna with a pitch. Reyna was ejected from the game for his role in the fight.

The Ventura County Gulls will open their season April 11 at home, California League President Joe Gagliardi said this week. The Gulls' 144-game schedule has not yet been completed, Gagliardi said, but he has assured Gull owners Ken McMullen, Jim Colborn and Jim Biby that their team will be home for its opener.

The Ventura County Gulls made six errors in their first three games of the California League's second half, and Manager Glenn Ezell responded by calling for extra running drills after Thursday's loss to the Visalia Oaks. Maybe Ezell should count his blessings instead of laps. Greg Mahlberg, manager of the Salinas Spurs, has watched his team commit 15 errors this week, including two in Friday's 8-1 loss to the Gulls at Ventura College.

Darryl Landrum tripled home two runs to key a four-run seventh inning as the Ventura County Gulls defeated the Salinas Spurs, 10-6, in a California League game Wednesday night. The Gulls (17-26) also got run-scoring infield singles in the inning from Jim Bishop and Mike Jones to stretch a 4-3 lead into an 8-3 advantage. Bishop added a two-run home run in the ninth inning to complete the Gulls' scoring. Todd Provence worked six innings to improve his record to 5-8.

With little more than a week left in the California League season, the Ventura County Gulls are hard-pressed to find bright spots to what figures to be their one and only season in Ventura. The Gulls, who will have a new name and new home next season, have given little reason for Ventura County to miss them with their play in the second half of the season.

Bob Bruzik's third run batted in of the game drove home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Salinas Spurs a 3-2 California League victory at home Tuesday night over the Ventura County Gulls. Bruzik lined a base hit to left field on a 3-0 pitch from William Shanks, the Gulls' fourth pitcher of the night, to score Rennie Brown from third base with one out in the ninth.

Todd Stottlemyre meant it as a compliment. Really. "In a sense," he said, "it was baseball the old-fashioned way. It was like sandlot baseball." Stottlemyre, a long way from sandlot ball in his Toronto Blue Jays' uniform and reclined in the visitors' dugout at Anaheim Stadium, reminisced about the 1986 Ventura County Gulls, their stadium and their fans. It was a season without lights, without beer and, finally, without a refrain.

It's official. The Ventura County Gulls have flown the coop. The Gulls, who recently finished their one and only season at Ventura College with the lowest attendance in the California League, are moving to San Bernardino pending league approval. A group of San Bernardino businessmen bought the team from Ken McMullen and Jim Colborn. Terms were not announced. Before the Gulls could be sold, however, McMullen and Colborn had to buy out another partner, Jim Biby, the team's general manager.

The last word on the Ventura County Gulls appears to be this: For a nice bunch of guys, they sure don't know how to say goodby. First, they dragged out their last home game until it had to be called because of darkness. Now, they are dragging out the sale of the team until . . . who knows? Fans were nearly given an appropriate kiss goodby from their Gull friends. Scott deMarrais smacked a three-run home run in the seventh inning of the final home game last Thursday to give the Gulls a 4-2 lead.

The Ventura County Gulls won twice Friday to increase their winning streak to seven games as they embarked upon the final series of their existence. Jim Bishop's run-scoring single off the glove of Palm Springs third baseman Dario Nunez in the eighth inning gave the Gulls a 2-1 victory in the nightcap after they won the completion of Thursday's suspended game, 6-5. The Gulls' final game in Ventura Thursday was suspended because of darkness with the teams tied, 5-5, after 11 innings.

With little more than a week left in the California League season, the Ventura County Gulls are hard-pressed to find bright spots to what figures to be their one and only season in Ventura. The Gulls, who will have a new name and new home next season, have given little reason for Ventura County to miss them with their play in the second half of the season.

The Bakersfield Dodgers have a long way to go before they can consider themselves a pennant contender in the California League. In fact, they have a long way to go before they even reach .500. But the Ventura County Gulls did nothing to get in their way Thursday at Ventura College, as the Dodgers completed a four-game sweep of their series with a 5-3 win in 11 innings. Jovon Edwards' single scored Mike Garner from third to break a 3-3 tie in the top of the 11th inning.

The Ventura County Gulls won twice Friday to increase their winning streak to seven games as they embarked upon the final series of their existence. Jim Bishop's run-scoring single off the glove of Palm Springs third baseman Dario Nunez in the eighth inning gave the Gulls a 2-1 victory in the nightcap after they won the completion of Thursday's suspended game, 6-5. The Gulls' final game in Ventura Thursday was suspended because of darkness with the teams tied, 5-5, after 11 innings.

Bakersfield batters amassed 14 hits and capitalized on four errors to beat the Ventura County Gulls 10-2 in a California League game on Wednesday at Sam Lynn Park. Ventura County took the early lead as Eric Yelding started the game by hitting a 3-2 pitch off Dodger starter Walt Stull for his second home run of the season. However, Bakersfield promptly tied the game in its half of the inning when Ed Jacobo doubled home Ted Holcomb off Ventura starter Elvis Ciprian.

Tyler Brilinski of the Modesto A's nearly single-handedly defeated the Ventura County Gulls on Saturday night, driving in eight runs to lead the A's to a 17-7 California League victory at Modesto. Brilinski, Modesto's designated hitter, hit two home runs and a double as part of a 5-for-5 night. Big nights in Modesto are nothing new for Brilinski, who was hitting .360 with a .760 slugging percentage at home going into the game.

Darryl Landrum tripled home two runs to key a four-run seventh inning as the Ventura County Gulls defeated the Salinas Spurs, 10-6, in a California League game Wednesday night. The Gulls (17-26) also got run-scoring infield singles in the inning from Jim Bishop and Mike Jones to stretch a 4-3 lead into an 8-3 advantage. Bishop added a two-run home run in the ninth inning to complete the Gulls' scoring. Todd Provence worked six innings to improve his record to 5-8.