The Pirate baseball team dropped the final game of a three-game set against Cuesta 11-1 Saturday at Pirate Park. Cooper Smith took the hard-luck loss on the mound, pitching five innings and giving up two runs, one earned with a pair of strikeouts. VC trailed 2-1 when Smith left the game. Andrew Savage had two hits and a run batted in while Casey Turturici had a single, a walk and a run scored.
After Cuesta scored once in the top of the first, the Pirates tied the score with a run in the bottom of the second. Turturici led off with a walk, then moved to second on a balk one out later. With two outs, Savage hit an RBI single.
The Cougars scored one more run in the top of the fourth before the floodgates opened on the Ventura bullpen.
VC next begins a three-game set at Oxnard on Tuesday March 1.