The Pirate baseball team made a strong comeback Saturday afternoon, falling a run short in their 6-5 loss against Santa Barbara at Pirate Park. Codi Santana was 2-4 with a pair of RBI while Robert Stephan had a hit and a walk and scored twice. Greg Minier threw seven innings, allowing five runs, four earned, while striking out seven Vaqueros.
After the Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, SBCC came back with five unanswered scores to hold a 5-1 advantage in the middle of the fifth inning. VC scored once in the fifth, allowed another run in the eighth, then crossed the plate three times in the bottom of the eighth, but could not complete the comeback.
Stephan led off the game for VC with a single, and Dylan Colman was hit by a pitch. The two advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch, and a batter later, Stephan scored when Tony Fonzo reached base on an error by the shortstop. VC led 1-0 after one frame.
The Vauqeros came back with one run in the second, two more in the third, and a pair of scores in the fifth. Jordan Simon led of the Pirate half of the fifth with a single, stole second, and went to third on a throwing error. Ryan Coker the brought Simon home with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 5-2. after five. SBCC added an insurance run in the top of the eighth.
The Pirates mounted a comeback in the bottom of the eight inning with three scores. Stephan walked, Colman was hit by a pitch for the second time, and Michael Volaski loaded the bases with a single. Fonzo walked in Stephan, and Colman and Volaski scored on a single by Santana. Unfortunately, VC could not plate any more runs, despite no outs in the inning, and they fell a run short in the final count, 6-5.
Ventura closes the season series with the Vaqueros on Tuesday April 21 in Santa Barbara before traveling to Oxnard on Thursday April 23. The Pirates close the season on Friday April 24 at home against the Condors at Pirate Park. All three games are slated to begin at 2:30 pm.