Box Score | Season Stats

March 27, 2007

Baseball:

Vikings thump Pasadena 15-5 to snap losing streak

Sophomore starting pitcher Daniel Prieto tossed four innings of no-hit ball and drove in four runs from the plate to lead the Long Beach City College baseball team to a big 15-5 South Coast Conference win over Pasadena City College on Tuesday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field.

The win snapped the Vikings three-game losing steak and improved their record to 13-16 overall and 6-6 in the SCC.

The LBCC offense came alive, pounding out 17 hits.

Prieto had a big day from the mound and at the plate. He scattered three hits over eight innings and allowed just one run while striking out nine. The win improved Prieto’s record to 3-2.

Prieto helped his own cause by going 3 for 4 with 4 RBI. Prieto gave the Vikings an early 1-0 lead in the first inning with a double off the centerfield fence that scored sophomore third baseman Mark Ruiz who two batters earlier also doubled.

Long Beach blew the game open in the bottom of the fourth. Sophomores Chris Cordova and AJ Bancroft and freshman Armando Arzate all had run-scoring singles and Ruiz brought in a run with his ground out to short to give the Vikings a commanding 5-0 lead.

LBCC got another run in the fifth before Pasadena (6-22, 3-9 SCC) finally got on the board in the top of the sixth.

PCC first baseman Eric Fajardo led off the frame with a single and came in to score two batters later on a RBI double by center fielder Paul Aguilar.

Long Beach came right back with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth before exploding for six runs in the bottom of the seventh.

The big blow of the inning was a bases-clearing triple by Prieto. Freshman second baseman Curtis Thompson also added a RBI triple for his second extra base hit of the day.

One more run in the bottom of the eighth gave the Vikings a commanding 15-1 advantage before Prieto was lifted from the game before the top of the ninth.

In the ninth, Pasadena sent 10 batters to the plate and rallied for four runs off LBCC freshman reliever Steve Carney. Third baseman Aaron Mueller drove in two runs with his bases-loaded single.

Thomas Bragger (1-3) earned the loss for Pasadena after allowing six runs and nine hits in 4+ innings pitched.   

At the plate for the Vikings, sophomore right fielder Andy Beard went 3 for 6 with 2 RBI. Ruiz closed his game going 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and 4 runs.

Long Beach returns to action on Thursday (Mar. 29) when it hosts Mt. San Antonio College in a 2:30 pm SCC game.