The Pirate baseball team dropped an 8-5 decision against Santa Barbara Tuesday at Pershing Park. Shortstop Hunter Cervantes was 2-4 with two runs batted in and a run scored while Henry Borjas had two hits, including a double, and scored twice. Lucas Martinov also had a pair of hits for Ventura.
VC fell into a hole early, yielding four runs on just one hit in the bottom of the first inning before coming back with a pair of scores in the top of the second.
With two outs, Martinov and Frederico Tiburtini hit back-to-back singles. Tommy Castaneda followed with a single to load the bases and Cervantes singled home two runs to cut the deficit to 4-2.
After SBCC scored another run in the third, both teams strung up zeros on the box score until the Pirates scored twice in the top of the seventh.
With one out, Cervantes and Borjas each singled. Matthew Ramirez then reached bas eon an error with Cervantes scoring and Borjas advancing to third. After the second out of the frame, Caden Stillwell hit an infield single to shortstop to score Borjas pulling Ventura to within 5-4.
Unfortunately, the Vaqueros scored three times in the bottom of the eighth to distance themselves from the Pirates. Grant Rodriguez's RBI single that scored Borjas in the ninth was not enough and Ventura fell by an 8-5 count.
Jacob Tostado made the start on the mound, giving up five runs, four earned, with five strikeouts while pitching into the sixth inning. Victor Tostado hurled the final 2.2 innings and recorded K's on six of eight outs.
The Pirates and Vaqueros will continue their series on Thursday Mar. 27. First pitch at Pirate Park is scheduled for 2:00 pm.