Cuesta Baseball fell to local rival Allan Hancock, 10-8, in the second of their three games scheduled for this week.  The Cougars won the opener, 20-8, at Allan Hancock on Tuesday and the two teams shall return to Santa Maria to end the series on Saturday (1 PM).  Today, on an overcast day at Cuesta, the Bulldogs scored first with four runs off five scratch singles in the 3rd inning.  Cuesta got their offense started in the bottom of the inning and cut the lead in half with two runs off a pair of singles and an error.  The Cougars eventually tied the game with a sacrifice fly in each of the next two innings, but their work was undone by their nemesis- "The BIG inning".  In the 6th inning, the Bulldogs piled up six runs and went through three Cuesta pitchers to take a commanding lead, 10-4.  In 18 games and 160 innings this season the Cougars have allowed runs in only 59 frames, however 27 have been for multiple runs, including 16 of three or more.  Allan Hancock only scored in two innings today, but they made the most of both of them with ten runs.  Cuesta came back with a pair of runs in both the 8th and 9th innings but were unable to overcome the Bulldogs.  Designated Hitter Kirk Woolf led the Cougars on offense.  He was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two driven in, while Reliever Jack Lewis Miller did his job to shut down the Bulldogs' big inning, while giving the Cougars a chance to comeback.  Miller closed the game by setting down all ten Bulldogs he faced.  The setback is the Cougars first loss in Western State Conference play, where they are currently 4-1.  Cuesta is 8-10 overall.

The Cougars travel to Santa Maria on Saturday (1 PM) to end their first round series with the Bulldogs.  The Cougars and Bulldogs will complete their WSC-set next month with one game in SLO