The Long Beach City College baseball team defeated the East Los Angeles College Huskies in an 8-6 showdown on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Vikings improve to 12-10 overall and 6-2 in South Coast Conference play.
Freshman pitcher Julio Lopez (2-1) earned the win with only allowing the Huskies to four hits in three innings of work. Freshman Trevor Sutt (1-1) took home his fifth save of the season by holding the Huskies to only one run on three hits in the final two innings.
The Vikings were first on the board in the bottom of the first with sophomore second baseman Raul Gonzalez scoring on an error from the East Los Angeles third baseman, then sophomore third baseman Mark Stanford hit an RBI single to bring in freshman right fielder Zach Rivas to lead the Huskies 2-0.
The Huskies came back in the top of the second with two runs to tie the game. Then in the top of the fourth inning, they extended their lead with three runs to lead the Vikings 5-2.
The Vikings came back in the bottom of the sixth with another RBI single from Stanford to bring in sophomore short stop Travis Aversa and then sophomore first baseman Robert Barham scored in sophomore designated hitter David Balboa to slowly close the gap 5-4.
The Vikings rallied again in the bottom of the seventh with Aversa scoring off of a single from Barham and then Balboa coming in clutch with a double to center field to score in Gonzalez and freshman left fielder Tyler Vargas to take back the lead 8-5.
The Huskies squeezed in one more run in the top of the ninth, but the Vikings shut it down and sealed the 8-6 conference victory.
The Long Beach City College Vikings will return on Tuesday Mar. 19 at LA Harbor College at 2:30 p.m.
