Taking a break from South Coast Conference play, Long Beach City College split a pair of one-run games against No. 1 Southern California-ranked Oxnard College on Monday at LBCC's Joe Hicks Memorial Field. Long Beach was edged 5-4 in the early game and bounced back to take the second by a final score of 3-2.
The doubleheader was a result of a pair of games that were rained out in February and was scheduled for seven innings. With the split, Long Beach improved to a game over .500 at 16-15 while Oxnard suffered just its eighth loss of the season and moved to 24-8.
In the LBCC win, the Vikings trailed 2-0 before the Vikings got a run back when sophomore Nolan Flashman (University HS) was hit by a pitch to force in a run.
Trailing 2-1, Oxnard threatened in the fifth. The Condors had runners on first and second after freshman Tanner Levine (Millikan HS) allowed a single and a walk. Freshman Justin Davis (Mayfair HS) was called to the mound for the first time this season and got a pair of ground outs to end the threat.
Long Beach rallied for the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the fifth. Freshman Pernell Roberts Jr. (Westchester HS) hit a leadoff single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Michael Thomas (St. John Bosco HS). Sophomore Stefan Miladinovich (Wilson HS) then followed with a big triple to the left-center field gap to score Roberts. With two outs, Oxnard starter Josh Kubiske appeared to escape the jam, but shortstop Ryan Webberly overthrew first base on Flashman's grounder to allow Miladinovich to come in with the eventual game-winning run.
Oxnard put together one last rally in the seventh as the Condors had runners on first and second with one out. But Davis got Jeremy Sanchez to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.
Davis (1-0) went on to pitch 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory for the Vikings. Kubiske (2-1) allowed just one earned run and six hits over five innings in the loss for the Condors.
In the opener, Long Beach couldn't hold an early 3-0 lead. Davis had a RBI ground out in the second while freshman Jordan Ybarra (Downey HS) smacked a two-single in the third to score Thomas and freshman Jake Reinhardt (Wilson HS).
Oxnard rallied for four runs in the fourth inning to jump ahead. The Condors loaded the bases off sophomore Jake Angus (Pacifica HS) with no outs and sophomore reliever Michael Ostrea (Kennedy HS) couldn't work his way out of the jam unscathed. A two-run double by Webberly proved to be the big blow of the frame.
In the sixth, Long Beach bounced back with a run. Sophomore Daniel Pitt's (Quartz Hill HS) double down the left-field line scored Flashman to tie the game at 4-4.
But in the top of the seventh, a two-out single by Julian Ramon scored Jake Mavropolous for the game-winning run.
Miladinovich had a pinch-hit, leadoff single for Long Beach in the bottom of the seventh, but reliever Luke Eubank settled down to record the final three outs.
Ostrea took the loss to fall to 1-2 for the Vikings. He allowed one run and four hits over the final four innings. Pitts went 2 for 3 with a RBI to lead LBCC at the plate.
Patrick Herrera (2-1) picked up the win for Oxnard after allowing four runs and seven hits over six innings. Eubank picked up his first save after closing out the ninth.
Long Beach returns to action on Tuesday (Apr 15) when it hosts Antelope Valley College in a 2 p.m. non-conference game. Then on Thursday (Apr 17), LBCC travels to AVC for the second game of the two-game set.
