The Long Beach City College baseball team found themselves in a shootout on Tuesday afternoon in a conference matchup between the Chaffey College Panthers on the road. The Vikings jumped out to an 11-1 lead, but the Panthers began to chip away at the lead and come within one run of the lead. However, Long Beach prevailed down the stretch en route to a 12-11 victory.
LBCC wasted no time putting runs on the board early after sophomore first baseman Vincent Byrd II (Sacramento, CA) and freshman second baseman Tyler Wilber (Los Alamitos, CA) barreled back-to-back RBI doubles to gain an early 2-0 lead.
Long Beach continued to pour on the offense by etching three-consecutive three-spots on the board in the third, fourth, and fifth innings.
Wilber kicked off the offensive outburst once again as he notched an RBI single to begin the top of the third inning, scoring sophomore shortstop Antonio Monroy (Maywood, CA). Freshman left fielder Chase Ambrose (Long Beach, CA) added to the mix with an RBI single, while sophomore catcher Jacob Gotta (San Diego, CA) backed him with an RBI groundout to extend their lead to 5-0.
After already scoring two runs in the game, Monroy pushed Gotta across the dish with a single in the top of the fourth. Byrd II and Wilber teamed up once again to barrel consecutive RBI singles to score Monroy and freshman third baseman Reese Berberet (Fallbrook, CA), respectfully. Three consecutive RBI singles from Monroy, Byrd II, and Wilber the following inning put the Panthers in a huge hole and gave the Vikings an 11-1 advantage.
However, the Vikings became complacent and allowed 10 runs the following four innings to go along with four errors to allow Chaffey to tie the contest up at 11-all leading into the final frame of play.
The Vikings went back to work in the top of the ninth to take the lead after freshman right fielder Val Stammler (Long Beach, CA) doubled home Gotta who lead off the inning with a single. Ambrose, who was tasked to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, slammed the door in the bottom of the ninth en route to the 12-11 victory.
Ambrose, who came in for relief on the hill, picked up his third win of the season. Byrd II paced the sticks by going 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles, three RBI, and two runs scored. Wilber backed him with a 3-for-5 day with a double and two RBI. Monroy and Berberet barreled two hits as well.
The Vikings (17-11-1, 10-5 SCC) jump into second place by a significant margin and will look to expand their distance by hosting Chaffey Thursday, April 7th at home at 2:30 p.m.