The Pirate baseball team held a 2-1 advantage heading to the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday afternoon, but could not make it stand up, allowing three late runs in their 4-2 loss at Citrus College. Spencer Dubaich had a pair of hits with an RBI while Carlos Sanchez knocked in the other run for the Pirates (1-5).
The Owls got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the third inning. VC matched it, plating a run in the top of the fifth when Sanchez singled home Robert Stephan, who had reached base on a single and moved to second on Taylor Campos' sacrifice bunt.
In the sixth, Dylan Colman led off with a single and stole second base. One batter later Codi Santana moved Coleman to third with a single, and Dubaich knocked him in with a sacrifice fly, giving VC a 2-1 lead.
The Pirate advantage would be short-lived, however, as Citrus answered with two runs in the bottom half of the frame, and another in the bottom half of the seventh to set the final margin.
Greg Minier started on the hill for VC, throwing five innings while giving up one run and three hits. Alex Van Es took the loss, allowing two runs in one inning of work, and Alexander Torres gave up a run in one inning. Campos threw a scoreless eighth inning for Ventura.
The Pirates will travel to Mt. San Antonio College on Thursday for a 7:00 pm game before opening Western State Conference play at Allan hancock on Saturday at 1:00 pm. They will return home to face the Bulldogs again on Tuesday Feb. 17 at 2:00 pm.