Cuesta Baseball had a full dance card this week.  The Cougars swept through the Cuesta/Hancock Spring Break Tournament with wins over #17 Merced, #21 Cypress, as well as the school with the most State Titles, Cerritos, but, today, they finally lost to Western State Conference foe Santa Barbara City, 10-3, to end their busy week.  The Vaqueros, who have been home resting due to Covid protocols since April 5, came out swinging, while the Cougars patched together their bullpen to compete against their well-rested foe.  Santa Barbara jumped out to a three-run lead in their first at-bat, but the Cougars quickly closed that gap with two runs in the 2nd inning.  Sadly, when the Vaqueros scored in the 3rd to increase their lead to 4-2, the Cougars did not have an answer and Cuesta failed to produce another hit until the 9th inning.  Rightfielder Mattias Sessing (pict) accounted for two of the Cougars' five hits on the day, including a Double, and both scored and drove in a run to lead the offense.  On the mound, Southpaw Reliever Josh Souza (pict) both struckout and walked two batsmen over his two innings of work, while also being the only Cuesta Hurler, out of seven, to keep the Vaqueros both hitless and scoreless.  The loss dropped the Cougars to 20-13 overall and 13-4 in the Western State Conference, just one game ahead of Santa Barbara City.  The two teams will play twice more this season and while the Cougars will be better rested, both games are scheduled to be played at Pershing Park in Santa Barbara.  

Cuesta is currently 20-13 overall and 13-4 against the Western State Conference.  The Cougars have four WSC games scheduled for next week.  They host Ventura and Allan Hancock on Tuesday (2:30) and Thursday (2:30), respectively, before playing at Santa Barbara on Friday (2:30) and Pierce on Saturday (1 PM) in Woodland Hills.