The Long Beach City College baseball team totaled seven hits, but couldn't get its offense rolling as the Vikings fell 4-1 to visiting Golden West College in a non-conference game at Joe Hicks Memorial Field on Thursday.

The loss dropped the Vikings to 5-4 overall while the Rustlers evened their record at 6-6. The teams close out a two-game series on Saturday at noon back at Golden West in Huntington Beach.

Golden West starting pitcher Jason Dietrich (3-0) scattered seven hits over nine innings for the complete-game win. He struck out five and walked none.

LBCC rallied for a two-out run in the bottom of the ninth to break up the shutout. Daniel Pitts and Ray Patchen led off the inning for the Vikings with consecutive singles. Dietrich was able to induce a double play to third from pinch hitter Caulin Anderson to minimize the threat. Patchen moved to second base on the double play before Nolan Flashman (pictured) smacked a RBI single to left field.

Flashman advanced to third on an error by GWC left fielder Thomas Walker, but Dietrich struck out LBCC's Henry Severson to end the game.

Golden West scored a pair of runs in both the fourth and seventh innings. Pinch hitter Nicolas Marshall broke the game open for the Rustlers with his two-out, two-single in the seventh.

Nick Wood took the loss for Long Beach to fall to 2-2. He allowed two runs and three hits over five innings. He struck out four and walked three. Flashman went 2 for 4 to lead the Vikings at the plate.

Kyle Jones was 2 for 3 with a run to pace the Golden West offense. The Rustlers were busy on the base paths as they stole seven bases.

Photo by Chris Ruiz