After digging themselves into a 7-1 hole at Santa Barbara, the Pirate baseball team had its comeback bid fall short as they fell to the Vaqueros 7-4 Tuesday afternoon. Rodolfo Aguilar had a pair of hits and scored a run while Bryson Wallet had a two-RBI single. Andrew Nardi, David Hughes and Devon Lindley combine for 2.1 innings of scoreless relief for the Pirates (15-10, 5-5).
Austin Rubick took to the hill to start the game for VC, allowing seven runs over 5.2 innings. Only four runs were earned, however, as the Pirate defense committed four errors in the game. He gave up five walks and struck out four batters.
The Vaqueros took the early lead, taking advantage of a triple and three walks for a 1-0 advantage.
The Pirates came back and tied the game in the top of the third inning. T.J. Durfee drew a one-out walk and Brett Steinberger sacrificed him to second. Chris McKee followed with a key two-out hit to score Durfee, tying the game at 1-1.
SBCC blew the game open with four runs in the fourth inning with just two hits. The Pirates had two errors in the frame as two of the Vaquero scores were unearned.
Santa Barbara extended the advantage to 7-1 in the sixth inning with two more runs, both scored with two outs. The second run was unearned after another VC error in the field.
Ventura started a comeback bid with three runs in the top of the eighth inning after a two-out rally. McKee got things started with a two-out walk and Aguilar followed with a single. Blake Chiaramonte reached base on an error that also scored McKee. After a walk to Brendan Griffith, Wallet produced a two-run single to make it the score 7-4.
VC made one last attempt to comeback in the ninth. Kaden Betsch was hit by a pitch to lead things off, and was replaced by pinch runner Eric Thrower. Durfee followed with a single, advancing Thrower to second, still with no outs. The Pirates could not come up with another clutch hit, however, and stranded the two runners on base to end the game.
Ventura begins its second run through the Western State Conference North Division with a two-game set against Oxnard. The Condors will come to Pirate Park on Thursday March 30 for a 2:30 game before VC returns the favor on Saturday April 1 at 1:00 pm.