The VC baseball team held a 4-0 lead midway through the game but could not hold on, falling 5-4 Saturday at El Camino College in Torrance. Jacob Tostado recorded a pair of hits with a run batted in and Lucas Martinov also had two hits and scored a run. Caden Stillwell and Henry Borjas also produced RBI, Jacob Roa pitched into the fifth, giving up three runs, two earned and Austin Kurr had two innings of scoreless relief.
The Pirates took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Grant Rodriguez led off with a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Hector Pina sacrificed Rodriguez to third before Dufau reached first on a fielder's choice and moved all the way to third on a throwing error that scored Rodriguez. Stillwell followed with a sacrifice fly to center to score Dufau.
Ventura expanded the margin with two more runs in the top of the fifth. Martinov hit a single to right field and Tommy Castaneda walked. The runners moved ahead 90 feet on another wild pitch and Tostado and Borjas followed with back-to-back RBI singles to make it 4-0.
Unfortunately, the Warriors had an answer in the bottom of the fifth, scoring three runs, two earned. Then, in the bottom of the eighth, they scored two more runs to post the final 5-4 score.
Stillwell singled in the top of the ninth as the possible game-tying run, but VC could not bring him around to score.
The Pirates return home on Tuesday Feb. 18 to open Western State Conference North Division play against Los Angeles Pierce. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 pm at Pirate Park.