No. 15 Baseball Defeats Mt. SAC in Conference Opener, 4-1

The No. 15 Long Beach City College baseball team kicked off conference play on Thursday evening by facing off against the Mt. San Antonio Mounties on the road. Riding the dominant pitching performance of freshman starter Josh Agnew (Long Beach, CA), the Vikings plated four runs en route to a 4-1 victory over the Mounties.

The Vikings were fueled by the right arm of Agnew who was untouchable throughout most of the contest. The rookie did not allow a hit through the first four innings of action as he produced nine groundouts and a pair of punch outs.

Long Beach had the bats working early as well by etching their first run on the board in the top of the first inning. After freshman second baseman Tyler Wilber (Los Alamitos, CA) reached base on a one-out single, sophomore first baseman Vincent Byrd II (Sacramento, CA) sent him home two batters later via single to snag the early one-run advantage.

Freshman third baseman Reese Berberet (Fallbrook, CA) got in on the RBI action in the top of the third inning by sending home Wilber after barreling an RBI two-bagger. Berberet was not done as he matched his RBI-double in the top of the fifth inning, scoring freshman center fielder Ian Konek (Long Beach, CA) and sophomore shortstop Antonio Monroy (Maywood, CA) to grab a 4-0 lead.

The Mounties finally tagged Agnew with their first hit of the ball game in the bottom of the fifth inning and eventually scored a run two batters later, but Agnew was unfazed as he blanked Mt. SAC the remainder of his complete-game journey en route to the 4-1 victory.

Agnew (4-2) retired the side on five separate occasions leading to his first-career complete game win. He notched five strikeouts while scattering four hits.

Berberet was a beast at the dish by going 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI. Wilber finished the day going 3-for-5 with two runs scored, while Byrd went 1-for-2 with an RBI single and two walks.

Offensively, the Viking's one through four hitters went 7-for-16 with two doubles, four RBI, three runs scored and two walks.

The Vikings (8-6-1, 1-0 SCC) will return home on Saturday, March 4th to finish a quick two-game series with Mt. SAC (7-9, 0-1 SCC). First pitch is set for 12 noon.