The Pirate baseball team came back from three runs down to tie the score in the fourth inning, only to fall to visiting Cuesta 7-4 Tuesday afternoon at Pirate Park. Riley Langerman had a pair of hits, including a double, with two runs batted in while Baylor Tovar and TJ Foreman also recorded two hits each for Ventura (12-10, 4-3). Travis Weston pitched into the fifth inning, giving up four runs to take the loss while Sergio Linares, Jeff Thoben and Christian Herrera pitched 2.2 combined innings of shutout ball.
The Cougars took the early lead with a run in the third inning and two more in the fourth. VC came back to tie with three scores in the bottom half of the frame. AJ Medrano led off with a single and advanced to second base on an error. Next, Zane Chittenden reached base on a fielder's choice as Medrano moved to third base. Tovar followed with an RBI single, then Ethan Balolong made it to first on a fielder's choice, and stole second. Langerman then hit a single to knock in two runs and the game was tied at 3-3.
The Cougars quickly responded, however, scoring single runs in the fifth and sixth,and two more in the eighth to pull away with the 7-3 win.
Ventura next travels to San Luis Obispo on Thursday March 21 to complete the 2-game series with Cuesta before heading back north to Santa Maria on Saturday March 23 to face Allan Hancock College.