The No. 13 Long Beach City College baseball team hit the road for a South Coast Conference (SCC) matchup against the Pasadena City College Lancers on Thursday afternoon at Brookside Junior Field. In a low-scoring affair that saw Long Beach tie up the contest in the top of the eighth inning, the Vikings stranded the game-tying run on second base to hand them a 3-2 defeat and their third-straight conference loss.
LBCC struck first in the game with sophomore first baseman Vincent Byrd II (Sacramento, CA) barreling a double to center field, scoring freshman second baseman Tyler Wilber (Los Alamitos, CA) to grab an early 1-0 lead.
Freshman starter Josh Agnew (Long Beach, CA) took to the bump and picked up right where he left off after tossing a complete-game shutout against East L.A. just one week ago by retiring six-consecutive batters in the opening two frames. However, his luck ran out by allowing two runs in the bottom of the third inning to put the Vikings in a 2-1 hole.
However, Agnew continued to work well by blanking the Lancers through the next four frames that included a strikeout and a nice defensive play by Byrd II.
After flashing the leather, Byrd II continued to cart a hot stick by barreling a single to right field to score sophomore shortstop Antonio Monroy (Maywood, CA) to tie the contest up at 2-2.
However, Pasadena plated the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eight to grab the lead at 3-2. The Vikings earned a base runner in the top of the ninth after freshman pinch hitter Robert Barham (Long Beach, CA) hit a leadoff ground-rule double, but he was stranded on second leading to a 3-2 loss.
Agnew (5-3) was tagged with the defeat despite allowing just four hits and striking out a pair of batters.
Byrd II earned is SCC-South pacing 26th and 27th RBI of the season after going 2-for-3 with a double.
Long Beach (10-10-1, 3-4 SCC) return home on Saturday, March 18th to complete a two-game series with the Lancers at 12 noon.