No. 8 Long Beach Outlasts Rival No. 3 El Camino for Upset Win

Sophomore Raul Gonzalez with the game-winning single.
Sophomore Raul Gonzalez with the game-winning single.

The No. 8 Long Beach City College Vikings took down the No. 3 El Camino College Warriors in a 2-1 conference win on Thursday afternoon. The Vikings are looking to slide past El Camino in the conference standings as the Vikings hold a spot in second place, while the Warriors sit in the number one spot. With the win, the Vikings improve to 19-11 overall, and 12-3 in South Coast Conference action.

Sophomore starting pitcher Garrett Rennie (6-2) earned the win on the mound, with only allowing the Warriors to one run on eight hits, while striking out six. Freshman pitcher Trevor Sutt (2-1, 7) took home his seventh save of the season as he held off the Warriors to no hits and struck out two in the final two innings.

The game was scoreless until the sixth inning, when the Warriors were first on the board with an RBI single.

The Vikings came back in the top of the seventh and loaded the bases with sophomore third baseman Mark Stanford, sophomore catcher Brett Wells, and freshman pinch runner Carter White. Sophomore second baseman and lead batter Raul Gonzalez then came up to the dish and smashed a single to left field to bring in Stanford and Wells to roll past the Warriors with a 2-1 lead.

The Vikings held on for the remainder of the game, and finished the 2-1 victory over the Warriors.

The Long Beach City College baseball team will return to the field on Saturday, Apr. 6 at El Camino to close-out the three-game conference series at 12 p.m.