Long Beach City College freshman Sean Hale won his SCC-leading eighth game of the season as the Vikings snapped a three-game losing with a 7-4 South Coast Conference win over visiting Pasadena City College on Tuesday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field.
Long Beach (19-15, 10-9 SCC) and Pasadena (4-30, 1-18 SCC) continue their final three-game conference series on Thursday (Apr. 25) at PCC with both teams' season-finale back at LBCC on Friday (Apr. 26) at 2:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, Hale scattered seven hits and allowed just a sixth-inning run over seven innings to improve to 8-2 overall.
The Vikings staked Hale to a 2-0 lead after RBI singles from freshmen Caulin Anderson and Robert Yates in the fourth.
Long Beach blew the game open with four more runs in the fifth. Sophomore Phil Visico doubled off Pasadena starting pitcher Tim Shiba to lead off the frame and moved to third after a single by sophomore Jaime Valle. Sophomore Derrick Garcia was hit by a pitch to load the bases before freshman Daniel Pitts singled to drive in Visico.
Robert Urias replaced Shiba on the mound but couldn't stop the LBCC rally. With the bases loaded, sophomore Ray Patchen grounded out to score Valle and Anderson followed with a RBI single to drive in Garcia. Anderson closed out the scoring in the inning when he came in on a wild pitch by Urias.
The Lancers got back into the game scoring three runs off freshman relief pitcher Michael Ostrea in the top of the eighth. PCC's Cameron Silva hit a two-double for the big blow of the inning.
Long Beach got its final run in the bottom of the eighth when freshman Tyler Leidholt scored freshman Nolan Flashman with a RBI single.
Freshman Nick Wood notched his second save of the season for the Vikings with a perfect ninth inning.
Anderson went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI to lead the Vikings at the plate. Garcia (2 for 3, 2 runs) and Pitts (2 for 4, 1 RBI) also had a pair of hits for Long Beach.
Shiba took the loss for Pasadena to fall to 1-8. He allowed six runs and eight hits over four innings. David Halstead (2 for 5), Corey Richards (2 for 4), and Bobby Fraijo (2 for 3) all had two hits for the Lancers.
Photo by Chris Ruiz