The No. 8 Long Beach City College Vikings took down the Cerritos College Falcons in a 13-9 conference victory. The Vikings rallied after an 8-8 tie ball game in the top of the seventh for their 20th overall win and a season-high record of 22 hits against the Falcons. With the win, the Vikings improve to 20-12, and 13-4 in the South Coast Conference.
Freshman pitcher Trevor Sutt (3-1) took home the win with only allowing the Falcons to one run on three hits in the final two innings.
The Vikings took control of the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI single from freshman catcher Brett Wells to score in freshman right fielder Zach Rivas. Then in the fourth inning, sophomore short stop Travis Aversa scored in sophomore left fielder Andrew Schmitt off a single to center field. Then with the bases loaded, sophomore third baseman Mark Stanford belted a triple to center field to score in sophomore designated hitter David Balboa, freshman left fielder Tyler Vargas, and Aversa to lead the Falcons 5-0.
The Vikings powered through the rest of the inning with three more runs from sophomore second baseman Raul Gonzalez, freshman center field Carter White and Aversa to extend the Vikings' lead to 8-0.
The Falcons rallied in the top of the sixth inning with two home runs to score in six runs. Then in the top of the seventh, Cerritos hit a two RBI triple to tie the game 8-8.
The Vikings bounced back with a sacrifice fly from sophomore catcher Andrew Mugica to score in Vargas to take back the lead 9-8. The Vikings kept the rally momentum in the bottom of the eighth inning with runs from White, Schmitt and Gonzalez to lead 13-8.
The Falcons signed off with one more home run in the top of the ninth, but it wasn't enough and the Vikings sealed the 13-9 conference victory over the Cerritos.
The Vikings will return to the field on Saturday, Apr. 13 at home at 12 p.m.
