By Megan G. Razzetti
The Huskies dropped out of a first-place tie with Cerritos College in the South Coast Conference after a 3-2 loss against Long Beach City College at home.
For the first time this season, the Huskies lost two consecutive games. They ended their three-game series winning two against Long Beach.
ELAC is 20-12 overall and 12-6 in SCC play and is tied for second place with LBCC (17-15, 12-6) and El Camino College (21-11, 12-6).
The Huskies are participating today in the Spring Classic Baseball Tournament at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria.
ELAC will then close regular the season with a three-game series against Los Angeles Harbor College (15-17, 6-12) beginning April 22.
ELAC’s defense in the top of the fifth inning shifted the momentum LBCC’s way.
LBCC outfielder Justin Davis delivered an RBI single that scored outfielder Yamel Delgado to tie the game at two-all.
“We had plenty of opportunities throughout the game to score runs. We just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we were given,” ELAC Head Coach James Hines said.
The decisive run came in the eighth inning when ELAC right fielder Zachary Ashford stumbled on a teammate, which allowed LBCC’s Michael Thomas to score giving the Vikings a 3-2 lead.
“ELAC is always a tough gutty team and today we played tough and gutty. We had to in order to beat the team,” LBCC Head Coach Casey Crook said.
The game kicked off with a home run by ELAC shortstop Kevin Rodriguez, giving the Huskies a one-run lead early in the game. ELAC added a run in the bottom of the third inning with a RBI single by ELAC third baseman Michael Aguilar. ELAC’s two-run lead did not last long.
The Vikings got on the board in the fourth inning when Thomas scored off LBCC starting pitcher Stefan Miladinovich’s single to left field.
Despite playing at full focus, the Huskies knew of the opportunities missed.
“We had some opportunities, (but) we didn’t catch them. We could have done better swinging the bats,” ELAC second baseman Johnathan Larson said.
