The Pirate baseball team's quest for the post-season took a hit on Saturday with an 11-5 loss at Santa Barbara. In a battle for second place in the Western State Conference North Division, the Vaqueros took a 7-0 lead before Ventura got on the board with a five-run seventh. Julien Monks had an run batted in and Reiss Calvin knocked in two, but VC could not complete the comeback.
SBCC took the early lead with a run in the bottom of the first and another score in the bottom of the third. They then broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning to make it 7-0.
Ventura (20-17, 13-8) looked for the comeback with five runs in the top of the seventh. Casey Turturici led off with a walk and Nick Schnopp reached base on a fielder's choice with Turturici heading to third on an error. Schnopp then went to second base on a wild pitch. One out later Ramon Torres reached base on an error scoring Turturici, then Monks hit an RBI single to score Schnopp. KJ Moo-Young followed with a walk to load the bases and JR Godinez grounded out scoring Torres. Calvin then tripled to left-center field for two more Pirate runs as they pulled to within 7-5.
The comeback bid ended at that point, however, as the Vaqueros scored a pair of runs following the seventh inning stretch, and followed with two more scores in the eighth inning to set the final margin.
VC's offense was stymied in the game as they were limited to three hits. All five of their runs were unearned.
With the setback, the Pirates fall back to third place in the conference, 1.5 games behind SBCC and 2.5 games ahead of Moorpark. Ventura's post-season chances will now rest in their final three games of the year. The Pirates will play their final three games at Pirate Park beginning on Thursday April 28 against Allan Hancock College.