The Moorpark baseball team had a great comeback negated, as the Raiders’ pitching woes continued to haunt them in an 11-6 loss to the Santa Barbara City College Vaqueros on March 16 at Raider Field.

The Raiders (5-10-1, 0-4 Western State Conference) have lost five straight, and remain winless in conference play (0-4). During the five-game stretch, the Raiders allowed a staggering 12.8 runs per game, while only averaging 3.8 runs a game.

Clayton Elliott finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and two runs batted in to lead the Raiders, who used a four-run sixth inning to retake the lead 6-5 after trailing 5-0 early. The inning was highlighted by a two-run double by Ryan Cobb.

The Vaqueros (9-8, 2-2) jumped to a 5-0 advantage with three runs in the first inning and two more in the second.

However, the Raiders began their comeback with a pair of runs in the fourth inning when Elliot connected on a two-out, two-run single up the middle.

The Raiders’ impressive comeback was soon squandered when the Vaqueros regained the lead in the bottom half of the sixth inning on a two-run homer, before sealing the deal with four security runs in the bottom of the eighth inning for the final margin of victory.

According to Raiders head coach Mario Porto, the Raiders were unable to perform well defensively.

“Games like these will happen,” said Porto.

“Sometimes a team will come out hitting the ball extremely well and all we can do is do the best we can to contain them. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that today.”