Having wrapped up at least a share of its second consecutive South Coast Conference Championship on Tuesday, the Long Beach City College baseball team is still in search of a win to secure the title outright following a 2-1 loss to visiting El Camino College-Compton Center on Thursday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field.
With a 14-6 SCC record, Long Beach holds a narrow one-game lead over both Compton and Cerritos College at 13-7 with just one game left to play on Friday. The Vikings will turn to sophomore ace Julian Griego (Poly HS) for tomorrow's start at Compton. Game time is 2:30 p.m. at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. A win in the season finale would give the Vikings the conference's top seed for the postseason and a home playoff series in the upcoming Southern California Regionals.
On Thursday, shaky defense by the Vikings led to the narrow one-run loss to the Tartars. Freshman Evan May (Oxford Academy) turned in another impressive starting performance allowing two runs and eight hits in the complete-game effort.
Compton struck first in the top of the sixth inning. With one out, Renae Martinez lined what appeared to be a single to centerfield. But LBCC's Tai Tiedemann (Poly HS) got caught in between diving and playing the bounce, allowing the ball to skip past him all the way to the wall in center. Martinez raced all the way around to score for the inside-the-park home run and a 1-0 Compton lead.
The Tartars added to their lead on a controversial call in the top of the eighth. Martinez smacked a one-out double and moved to third on a single by Martin Teague. Randy Rubio followed with a bunt, but he appeared to be running inside the baseline on May's throw to first base. After head coach Casey Crook disputed the call and a lengthy halt in play that saw the umpires leave the field, the play stood and Compton was up 2-0.
Long Beach rallied back for a run in the bottom of the eighth. Freshman Tanner Moore (Irvine HS) led off with a single and stole second base. But he was thrown out at a third base trying to advance on a grounder by sophomore Jake Harris (Lakewood HS). With two outs, sophomore Tanner Levine (Millikan HS) lined a single to center to put runners on the corners for freshman Jackson Foss (Wilson HS). He came through with a RBI single to left to cut the Compton lead to 2-1.
In the ninth, the Vikings had the tying run at second but couldn't cash in. Tiedemann led off with a single and moved to second on a two-out walk by Moore. Down to their last out, sophomore Michael Thomas (St. John Bosco HS) smacked a deep fly ball to right-center field that was finally tracked down by Compton's Blake Mendoza to end the game.
Despite 11 hits, the Vikings managed just the one run and left eight runners on base. Levine, Foss, and freshman Aaron Fawcett (Los Alamitos HS) all went 2 for 4 to lead Long Beach at the plate.
Joseph Fernandez got the win for Compton, allowing no runs and seven hits over seven innings. Oscar Munoz picked up the save, closing out the final two innings allowing one run and four hits.