The Pirate baseball team had its comeback bid fall short Tuesday in their 7-5 setback at Cuesta, Ventura (19-16, 12-7) trailed 7-3 before scoring a pair of runs in the top of the eighth, but they could get no closer to the conference-leading Cougars. KJ Moo-Young had a pair of hits and a walk with two runs scored to lead the effort while Andrew Savage and Reiss Calvin each had a pair of runs batted in.
The Pirates dug themselves a hole early giving up four runs to Cuesta in the bottom of the first inning.
The comeback attempts began in the top of the third for VC. With one out, John Oleson walked and Casey Turturici singled. After a pitching change, Nick Schnopp singled to load the bases before Savage hit a two-RBI single. Unfortunately, Ventura's rally ended at that point and they trailed 4-2.
Cuesta got one run back in the bottom half of the frame before VC answered in the fourth. Moo-Young singled, stole second, and advanced to third on an error. Calvin then knocked him home with a groundout to second.
The Cougars extended their lead with single runs in the fifth and sixth to make the score 7-3.
Ventura made a last-ditch effort at a comeback in the eighth inning. Julien Monks and Moo-Young led off with a pair of singles before JR Godinez advanced the runners with a ground ball out to second base. Monks scored and Moo-Young moved to third on a passed ball before Calvin hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Moo-Young, closing the gap to 7-5. Ventura's comeback ended there, however, as a groundout ended the threat.
Jake Read took the loss as the starting pitcher, giving up five runs while pitching into the third inning. Dawson Radik threw 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball at the end to help give VC a chance.
The Pirates drop a half-game behind Santa Barbara for second place in the conference with the loss entering the final five games of the season. They will next host Oxnard on Thursday April 21 before heading to SBCC on Saturday April 23.