Baseball jumped out early with five runs in the first three innings and cruised to a Western State Conference victory over visiting Ventura, 10-3.  Freshman Southpaw Robinson Lardner (pict-L) struckout nine Pirates over six innings of work en route to his second victory of the season.  Cuesta's bullpen-by-committee sealed the victory with three relievers each hurling one shutout frame to end the game.  The Cougars double-play combination of Second Baseman Mateos Melkesian and Shortstop Victor Heredia (pict-R) each hit a home run in the game to power the Cougars' offense, while Heredia was also added a single and a triple to finish 3-for-5 at the plate, which left him a Bingle short of hitting for the cycle.  Rightfielder Mattias Sessing and Catcher Dalton Cram also enjoyed a multi-hit day against the visiting Pirates.  The victory moved the Cougars overall record to 9-7-1 and snapped a two-game WSC losing streak to put them at 3-2 against the circuit.  

Cuesta has four games scheduled against the Western State Conference next week, including another home game with the Pirates on Monday (2 PM).  The Cougars, who are currently in second place in the WSC loop, also have three games scheduled against local rival and current WSC leader Allan Hancock.  The Bulldogs will visit SLO on Tuesday (2 PM) and Saturday (1 PM), while the series also makes a stop in Santa Maria for the sandwich on Wednesday (2 PM).