The VC baseball team could not hold onto its early 3-2 lead, falling at Cuesta 14-5 Thursday afternoon. Andrew Savage, John Oleson and Ramon Torres all had a pair of hits on the day, and each had a double with a run scored. JR Godinez also ran out a pair of base hits for Ventura in the game. Sebastian Garcia, Anthony Betancourt and Jonah Schaller all had scoreless innings on the mound in relief.
After falling behind 2-0 after one inning of play, the Pirates rallied to score three runs in the top of the second. Gage Allen led off with a single, then Garrick Levesque was hit by a pitch. Torres hit an RBI double to score Allen followed by a wild pitch that led Levesque to cross home plate. Savage was next with an RBI single to give VC a 3-2 lead.
Unfortunately, the Pirate advantage was short lived as the Cougars hung an eight-spot in the bottom half of the frame to take control of the game.
In the fifth, Oleson doubled, then scored on Allen's groundout, and in the sixth, Savage doubled, then scored on a groundout by Godinez.
The Pirates and Cougars will close their three-game set on Saturday Feb. 26 at Pirate Park, beginning at 12:00 pm.