The Pirate baseball team went into the final inning Thursday tied with Santa Barbara 4-4. Dylan Jackson's ninth inning home run was not enough to overcome two Vaquero runs in the top of the ninth in VC's 6-5 setback at Pirate Park. Peter Dufau had a pair of hits, including a triple, and scored a run while Mason Reid also recorded two hits with a run scored and a run batted in. Bryce Zavala had a solid start, pitching into the sixth inning and giving up two runs while striking out three.
The game was close throughout with SBCC scoring a run in the top of the fifth before the Pirates (9-11, 3-7) answered in the bottom half of the frame.
Mason Reid led off the inning with a single and moved to second one out later when Henry Borjas drew a base on balls. Haiden Letzing then hit a two-out RBI double to even the score at 1-1.
Santa Barbara then scored two more runs in the top of the sixth inning for a 3-1 lead before Dufau tripled, then scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the column.
VC used a two-out rally to tie the game in the eight inning. Bryce Elias was hit by a pitch before Jacob Tostado singled to push Elias to third. Reid then hit an RBI single to even the count at 3-3 headed to the final inning.
Unfortunately, the Vaqueros plated a pair of scores on a two-out, two-RBI single in the top of the ninth.
With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Jackson homered to cut the Pirates' deficit in half, but VC could not muster another run in the narrow defeat.
Ventura and Santa Barbara will conclude the three-game series on Saturday March 16 with a 1:00 pm game at Pirate Park.