Sophomore starting pitcher Manuel Barragan (Wilson HS) tossed six scoreless innings and the Long Beach City College Vikings banged out nine hits in a 6-2 win over the visiting Pasadena City College Lancers on Thursday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field.
The Vikings (8-11, 5-3 SCC) have won the first two of the three-game South Coast Conference series and look to complete the sweep on Saturday (Mar 22) at 12 p.m. when the set concludes in Pasadena.
Barragan continued his dominance on the mound for the Vikings, pushing his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 24. Barragan, who was just named the CCCBCA Southern California Pitcher of the Week for his four-hit shutout last week at Cerritos, can make a claim for a repeat honor.
After allowing a leadoff single, Barragan retired the next 14 Lancers in order. He faced 17 batters before allowing a second hit, a two-out single in the sixth. Barragan closed his outing allowing just the two hits while striking out six and walking one to improve to 4-1 overall.
The Long Beach offense jumped on Pasadena starter Brian Cuiriz early, rallying for four runs in the bottom of the first. Freshman Michael Thomas (St. John Bosco HS) got things going with a leadoff single and then promptly came in to score on a RBI double by freshman Jordan Ybarra (Downey HS). Sophomore Ryan Dickison (Pacifica HS) followed with a walk and two batters later sophomore Daniel Pitts (Quartz Hill HS) smashed a two-run triple to the right-field gap.
Sophomore Robert Yates (St. Anthony HS) closed out scoring in the first with a two-out single to score sophomore Stefan Miladinovich (Wilson HS).
The Vikings added two more in the third when Dickison hit a leadoff single and moved to third on a bad pickoff throw by Cuiriz. Sophomore Nolan Flashman (University HS) brought him home with a RBI double and moved to third on an error. Pitts took advantage, smacking a sacrifice fly to deep center to bring in Flashman.
Pasadena took advantage of a Long Beach error and wild pitch by reliever Cameron Mackenzie (Woodbridge HS) to score a run in the seventh and put together a two-out rally in the ninth to post a run off freshman Julian Griego (Poly HS). PJ De Zotell hit a single and came in to score on a double by Kai Nakamura for the Lancers' final run.
Cuiriz took the loss for Pasadena (3-16, 0-8 SCC) after allowing six runs and eight hits over six innings. He struck out four and walked one.
For Long Beach, Pitts drove in three runs while Yates (3 for 4, 1 RBI) and Flashman (2 for 4, 2 runs, 1 RBI) all had good games at the plate.