The Long Beach City College baseball team fell to the Irvine Valley College Lasers 5-3 in their season opening game on Friday afternoon.
Sophomore starting pitcher Garrett Rennie opened the game and only allowed one run on four hits, and had two strikeouts in six innings of work.
The Lasers were first on the board with an RBI single to center field in the top of the fifth inning. The Vikings came back in the bottom of the fifth with freshman center fielder Carter White scoring on a passed ball.
Both teams remained scoreless in the sixth inning and then the Lasers scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to take back the lead 4-1.
In the bottom of the seventh, sophomore second baseman Travis Aversa scored the Vikings' second run on another Lasers passed ball to only trail Irvine Valley by two runs.
The Lasers had a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth inning to bring the score up 5-2. In the bottom of the eighth, sophomore designated hitter David Balboa singled to left field and then sophomore third baseman Mark Stanford smashed a double to center field to bring in Balboa.
The game ended with a 5-3 loss for the Vikings, but Long Beach will return to action tomorrow at Irvine Valley College at 12 p.m.
