Baseball: Long Beach sweeps two-game Antelope Valley series

Long Beach City College closed out the week with a two-game sweep of the Antelope Valley College Marauders. On Tuesday, the Vikings cruised to a 7-1 win at home and picked up a 5-2 victory on the road in Lancaster on Thursday to improve to 8-6 overall.

In Tuesday's win, three LBCC pitchers held Antelope Valley (4-9) to just two hits. Freshman Daniel Rocha (Narbonne HS) was impressive in the start as he allowed one unearned and one hit over seven innings. Sophomore Evan May (Oxford Academy) allowed one hit in the eighth while freshman Jacob Zinger (Poly HS) tossed a perfect ninth to close out the victory.

Long Beach held a narrow 2-1 lead before blowing the game open with a five-run, seventh-inning. Sophomore Erikson Fish (Sitka, AK/Sitka HS) had the big blow of the frame, a bases-loaded single that drove in two while an error allowed a third run to score.

Sophomore Sean Williams (Wilson HS) and freshman Gavin Windes (St. John Bosco HS) both had two hits and a RBI to lead LBCC at the plate.

On Thursday, AVC outhit the Vikings 10-9 but Long Beach came through in the clutch to pull out 5-2 win.

Sophomore Tai Tiedemann (Poly HS) smacked a two-run triple to spark a three-run, fifth-inning that broke a 1-1 tie. Windes collected his second RBI of the game as he drove in Tiedemann with a single.

Windes went 2 for 5 with 2 RBI while freshman Tony Monroy (Warren HS) went 3 for 5 with two runs to pace the Vikings' offense.

Freshman Michael Hurtado (Warren HS) picked up the win, allowing one run and four hits over five innings. May closed out the game by striking out five over four innings. He allowed one run and six hits to earn his first save of the season.

Long Beach returns to action on Tuesday (Mar. 8) at 2 p.m. when the Vikings open South Coast Conference play at Pasadena City College.