Sophomore starting pitcher Omar Jimenez (Lakewood HS) allowed one run over eight innings and freshman shortstop Avery Flores (Millikan HS, pictured) drove in two runs to help lead the Long Beach City College baseball team to a 5-1 South Coast Conference win over visiting Cerritos College on Saturday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field.
The Vikings swept the three-game conference series from the Falcons to improve their record to 8-7 overall and 3-0 in the SCC.
Jimenez gave Long Beach its third straight impressive performance from the mound against Cerritos after sophomore Steven Gallardo struck out 11 in a complete-game shutout on Tuesday and freshman Jake Angus (Pacifica HS) struck out seven and allowed only one run over 7 2/3 innings on Thursday.
On Saturday, Jimenez scattered seven hits over eight innings, struck out five, and allowed one run to earn his first win of the season and improve to 1-3 overall.
The LBCC offense also suddenly got hot against the Falcons, as the Vikings totaled 32 hits over the three game series, including nine today.
After two scoreless innings, Long Beach finally got on the board in the bottom of the third. Sophomore Justin Moore (University HS) bunted for a single and stole second base before freshman Stefan Miladinovich (Wilson HS) earned a walk from Cerritos starter Jon Villapando. Freshman Chris Miranda (Bellflower HS) delivered a clutch two-out single to bring in Moore and two batters later, freshman Devan Schermerhorn (Mayfair HS) also singled to drive in Miladinovich to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead.
Cerritos finally touched Jimenez for a run in the top of the sixth. With two-outs, Zach Johnson hit a double to the gap in left-center and Josh Ancona drove him in with a RBI single to left field. But Jimenez struck out Daniel Renteria to end the inning.
The Vikings got the run back plus one more in the bottom of the sixth thanks to another two-out rally. Freshman Manny De La Rosa (St. John Bosco HS) singled to lead off the inning and three batters later came in to score on a single to center by Flores. Flores was able to take second base on the throw to the plate which allowed him to come in to score on another two-out single from sophomore Daniel Catalan (Warren HS).
Flores added a RBI single in the eighth inning to score Schermerhorn and sophomore Edwin Santiago (Jordan HS) closed out the win by pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
Flores (2 for 4) and De La Rosa (2 for 3) both had two hits to lead LBCC at the plate while Moore went 1 for 4 with two stolen bases.
Villapando (0-1) earned the loss for Cerritos (3-12, 0-3 SCC) after allowing four runs and seven hits over 5 2/3 innings. Ancona and Evan Sanchez both went 2 for 4 to lead the Falcons' offense.
Long Beach returns to action on Tuesday (Mar 13) at 2:30 pm when it begins another three-game SCC series at Los Angeles Harbor College. The series continues at LBCC on Thursday (Mar 15) at 2:30 and concludes back at Harbor on Saturday (Mar 17) at noon.
Photo by Chris Ruiz