The Pirate baseball team hit a rough patch Monday afternoon, falling to Santa Barbara City College 11-2 in the Western State Conference opener for both teams. The game was played at Pirate Park with the Vaqueros as the home team due to unplayable conditions in Pershing Park in Santa Barbara. The Pirates (8-8, 0-1) were limited to five hits in the game with Junior Sandoval claiming a single and a double. Hunter Klingelhoffer had a two-RBI single in the eighth inning for VC.
It was like death by paper cut for the Pirates as they gave up one run in the bottom of the first, two in the second, and two more in the third inning. Santa Barbara scored once in the fifth for a 6-0 lead before plating four runs in the sixth frame. Ventura came back with two runs in the top of the eighth inning before SBCC scored one more in the bottom half of the frame.
VC's two-run eighth began when Ethan Balolong drew a one-out walk. Riley Langerman was hit by a pitch. and both runners advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch. Klingelhoffer followed with a two-RBI single to get the Pirates on the board.
Brent Dickey got the start for Ventura, giving up five runs and picking up the loss. Noah Bullard gave up one run in three innings of work with five strikeouts, and Sergio Linares and Jeff Thoben each had scoreless outings.
The Pirates host the Vaqueros again on Friday March 8 in a game moved from Thursday March 7 in anticipation of wet weather. First pitch is slated for 2:00 pm at Pirate Park.