The Pirate baseball team held a late advantage before giving up a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, falling at Los Angeles Mission College 6-5 Thursday afternoon in Sylmar. Chris McKee, Rodolfo Aguilar, Blake Chiaramonte, Brendan Griffith and Nick Bero all had two hits each for the Pirates (5-4).
Austin Rubick started on the mound for VC, giving up four runs in four innings, and Andrew Nardi threw three innings of scoreless relief.
VC fell behind 1-0 in the first inning, but responded with two runs in the third frame. The eagles retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth , plating three scores.
In the fifth, the Pirates responded with three runs. Elijah Alexander delivered the big hit in the inning, an RBI double as Ventura went ahead 5-4.
VC will play at Pasadena on Saturday Feb. 25 before making its home debut on Tuesday Feb. 28 at 2:00 pm against LA Pierce College.