Pirates Lose Lead Late, Fall at Santa Barbara 5-4

The Pirate baseball team held a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning before allowing the tying run in the seventh and the winning run in the ninth in their 5-4 walk-off loss at Santa Barbara Tuesday afternoon.  Blake Diaz was 2-3 with a walk and an RBI and Adam Maciel also had two hits, including a triple, while scoring once.  Bradley Fullerton also had a pair of base knocks while scoring a run.

The Pirates took an early 1-0 lead in the first frame.  Fullerton led off with a single, followed by a one-bagger by Dylan Colman.  Consecutive groundouts by Tony Fonzo and Codi Santana allowed Fullerton to cross the plate for the Pirates' 1-0 lead.

VC also plated a run in the second inning.  Jordan Simon belted a one-out double and Diaz had a two-out single to bring him home for the 2-0 Ventura advantage.  Unfortunately, the lead was short-lived as the Vaqueros came back with two runs in the bottom half of the inning.

In the fourth inning, Michael Volaski and Maciel began the inning with consecutive singles.  Simon sacrificed the pair to second and third, respectively, before they both scored on Ryan Coker single to left field.  The inning put VC ahead 4-2.

Santa Barbara plated one run in the sixth inning, and tied the score in the bottom of the seventh. They completed the comeback with a walk-off double completing a two-out rally to finalize the 5-4 result.

Colton Follett was Ventura's starting pitcher, throwing 5.2 innings and allowing three earned runs. Adisson Pelupessy came on in relief and took the loss.

Ventura completes its season with a two-game set against conference front-runner Oxnard College.  The Pirates travel to Oxnard on Thursday April 23 before coming home to Pirate Park for the season finale on Friday April 24.  Both games are scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm.