Long Beach City College sophomore starting pitcher Julian Griego (Poly HS) turned in a brilliant opening-day outing, but Grossmont College rallied for seven runs in the ninth inning to hand the Vikings a 7-0 loss on Saturday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field.

Griego, who went 5-0 with a 1.01 earned run average as a freshman, continued where he left off last season. He was perfect through five innings before allowing a leadoff infield single in the top of the sixth.  He allowed just one more hit in the seventh and struck out the final two batters he faced to close out the eighth inning.

But in the ninth, Grossmont (2-1) sent 11 batters to the plate as the Griffins scored seven times thanks to six hits and a pair of LBCC errors. Freshman Evan May (Oxford Academy) allowed five runs as he failed to record an out while sophomore Justin Davis (Mayfair HS) gave up two runs in 2/3 of an inning. Sophomore Zach Mahon (El Dorado Hills, CA) faced one batter and recorded the final out, but the damage had already been done.

Long Beach (0-1) had its chances on offense but couldn't capitalize. The Vikings left nine runners on base, including leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. LBCC also had a runner on third with one out in the eighth but couldn't bring sophomore Tanner Levine (Millikan HS) in to score.  

Sophomore shortstop Michael Thomas (St. John Bosco HS) went 2 for 3 with a walk to lead Long Beach at the plate.

The two-game series with the Griffins moves to Grossmont on Tuesday (Feb. 3) when the two squads will face off again at 2 p.m.