The 2014 season came to a crashing end for the Long Beach City College baseball team following a two-game sweep by the Santa Ana College Dons over the Vikings in the opening-round of the CCCAA Southern California Regional Playoffs.
The No. 14-seeded Vikings, who entered the postseason having won six straight and 11 of their last 13 games, couldn't match the No. 3-seeded Dons' offense. Santa Ana opened the series with a 17-6 win on Friday and closed it out with a 6-1 victory on Saturday.
In Game 1, the Vikings jumped ahead first, getting a leadoff triple from freshman Michael Thomas (St. John Bosco HS) before sophomore Stefan Miladinovich (Wilson HS) brought him home with a sacrifice fly.
But that would be Long Beach's only lead in the series as Santa Ana responded with five runs off Viking freshman starter Tanner Levine (Millikan HS) in the bottom of the first. Another five-run inning by Dons in the fifth gave them a huge 10-run lead at 14-4.
Every Viking pitcher allowed at least two runs. Levine took the loss to fall to 0-2 after allowing six runs (four earned) and six hits over just 2 1/3 innings.
LBCC totaled nine hits in the loss, getting three from freshman Jordan Ybarra (Downey HS) while sophomore Nolan Flashman (University HS) went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI, and double.
In Game 2, the Vikings turned to their ace, sophomore Manuel Barragan (Wilson HS), who hadn't pitched since April 12 because of injury. But he allowed two runs to the designated visiting team Santa Ana in the top of the first.
Long Beach cut the lead in half in the bottom of the first when sophomore Ryan Dickison (Pacifica HS) hit a two-out single down the right-field line. He then came in to score on a double by Flashman.
In the third, Santa Ana put the game out of reach by scoring three runs thanks to a pair of wild pitches by Barragan and an error.
Long Beach couldn't really get its offense going against Santa Ana starter Evanne Wilkes. He scattered four hits and allowed just the one unearned run over seven innings.
Barragan dropped to 6-2 on the season with the loss after giving up five runs and five hits over three innings. Freshman Julian Griego (Poly HS) provided five innings of solid relief, allowing one unearned run and four hits.
Dickison led LBCC at the plate in Game 2, going 2 for 4 with a run.
Long Beach closed the season with a 21-17 overall record. Head coach Casey Crook and the Vikings were tri-champions of the South Coast Conference with a 15-6 record. It was Crook's fourth SCC title (1996, 2006, 2009, 2014).
