Long Beach drops series opener 3-1 to Cerritos

The Long Beach City College baseball team opened up a three-game South Coast Conference series against rival Cerritos College with a 3-1 loss on Tuesday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field. The series continues on Thursday (Mar 13) at Cerritos at 2:30 PM and concludes on Saturday (Mar 15) at 12 p.m. back at LBCC.

Cerritos (9-8, 2-2 SCC) scored single runs over the first three innings of the game while the Viking had a tough time at the plate against the Falcons' pitching.

Cerritos took advantage of a wild first-inning by LBCC starter Cameron Mackenzie (Woodbridge HS). He had trouble finding the strike zone early, but after allowing a RBI single to Jared Robinson, he was able to recover to strand a pair of Falcons on base an escape giving up just one run.

Long Beach (5-10, 2-2 SCC) came right back to tie it up in the bottom of the first. Freshman Jordan Ybarra (Downey HS) started the rally with a one-out single and moved to third on a base hit by sophomore Ryan Dickison (Pacifica HS). Moments later, Dickison stole second base, but Cerritos catcher Frank Vargas' throw went in to centerfield to allow Ybarra to score.

In the second, Johnny Martinez' ground out brought home Daniel Lopez and Hayden Stevens hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Kyle Carpenter in the third.

Long Beach had numerous chances to get back into the game, but left eight runners on base, including five over the final three innings. The Vikings struck out 12 times in the contest, including seven times against Carpenter

Ybarra went 3 for 4 to account for half of the Vikings' hits in the game.

Mackenzie took the loss for the Vikings to fall to 1-2. He allowed two earned runs and seven hits. Mackenzie struck out one and walked three. Sophomore Michael Ostrea (Kennedy HS) was impressive in relief for LBCC as he tossed three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit.

Carpenter (3-2) picked up the win for Cerritos. He allowed the lone run and four hits over 6 1/3 innings. Jared Robinson earned the save, striking out three of the four batters he faced in the ninth. He also led the Falcon at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a RBI.