Baseball: Vikings rally late for 4-2 win over Oxnard

The Long Beach City College baseball team rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and held on for a 4-2 non-conference win over visiting Oxnard College on Saturday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field.

With the win, LBCC improved to 5-7 overall as it heads into its South Coast Conference opener on Tuesday when it hosts Cerritos College at 2 pm.

Sophomore starting pitcher Omar Jimenez (Lakewood HS) put together his finest outing of season but couldn't come away with the win thanks to just as impressive effort by Oxnard starter David Barroso.

Jimenez (pictured) had to work his way out of numerous jams as Oxnard was able to get five of the eight leadoff batters Jimenez faced on base to start innings.

In the top of the first, Oxnard's Westley Wright smacked the first pitch of the game to the gap in right-center field for a triple. Two batters later, LBCC third baseman Justin Moore (University HS) made a diving tag to get Wright out on a fielder's choice.

Oxnard loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the fifth, but Jimenez escaped by getting designated hitter Cody Kurz to foul out at first base and end the threat.

Barroso was cruising, facing just three LBCC batters over the minimum through the first six innings. But the Vikings finally broke the scoreless tie with a run in the seventh.

With one out, Jaime Valle (Paramount HS) was hit by a pitch and advanced after a two-out single by Jimmy Gosano (Lakewood HS).  Devan Schermerhorn (Mayfair HS) followed that with a RBI double to drive in the first run of the ball game.

But Oxnard answered with a run in the top of the seventh to chase Jimenez from the mound. After a leadoff walk to Kevin Minjares, Jose Hernandez delivered a one-out double to deep center to easily score Minjares.

With a runner on second and just one out, sophomore Edwin Santiago (Jordan HS) relieved Jimenez and got a pair of fly outs to end the inning.

Long Beach finally broke the game open in the bottom of the eighth with a three-run explosion.

Oxnard reliever Vito Messina issued back-to-back walks to Chris Miranda (Bellflower HS) and Moore to open the frame. A shallow single to center by Nate Alcafaras (Wilson HS) loaded the bases and Messina was quickly gone from the mound.

Kurz left his designated hitter spot to take the mound for the Condors, but was greeted with a screaming double to left-center field by freshman Stefan Miladinovich (Wilson HS) that brought home Miranda and Moore. Two batters later, freshman Ryan Dickison (Pacifica HS) drove in Miladinovich with a fielder's choice and LBCC was up 4-1.

Oxnard rallied for a run in the top of the ninth, but with runners and first and second, Santiago struck out Kurz to end the game and seal the win.

Jimenez pitched 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run and five hits in the no decision. He struck out six and walked four.