Baseball: Navar, Valle come up big in 2-0 win over Irvine Valley in home opener

The Long Beach City College baseball team bounced back from a narrow 2-1 loss on Friday to defeat visiting Irvine Valley College 2-0 on Saturday in the Vikings' home opener at Joe Hicks Memorial Field.

The non-conference win evened Long Beach's record at 1-1 while Irvine Valley also moved to 1-1 on the season.

Sophomore starting pitcher Edgar Navar (pictured) tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing just two hits in an impressive season debut for the Vikings to earn the win (1-0). He struck out three and walked none.

Sophomore catcher Jaime Valle also had a big game for Long Beach behind the plate and with the bat. Valle gunned down a pair of attempted base stealers and also drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Sophomore Avery Flores got the sixth-inning rally started when he chopped a one-out single to shallow left field. Flores moved to second on a wild pitch and then came in to score on Valle's clutch two-single to left.

LBCC added an insurance run in the seventh when freshman Ray Patchen came in to score on a balk by Irvine Valley relief pitcher Cameron Mackenzie.

Freshman Nick Wood closed the door on Irvine Valley with a pair of scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth to earn the save.

Mackenzie earned the loss for IVC after allowing both runs and four hits over two innings. IVC starter Christian Abe had a solid outing and held the Vikings hitless over the first five innings.

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Feb. 8) when it hosts Orange Coast College in a 2 p.m. non-conference game.

Photo by Chris Ruiz