Vikings Erupt Early, Roll Past Victor Valley 19-6
Long Beach City College baseball broke the game wide open from the first inning and never looked back Tuesday afternoon.
The Long Beach City College baseball team broke the game open from the first inning and never looked back, piling up 25 hits in a 19-6 road win over Victor Valley College Tuesday afternoon.
Long Beach set the tone immediately with a nine-run first inning, then added four more in the second to jump out to a 13-1 lead. The Vikings pushed across another run in the fifth, then tacked on five more in the seventh to cap one of their biggest offensive performances of the season.
The Vikings were unstoppable throughout the lineup. Erick Espinoza went 4-for-7 and scored twice, while Myles Fendrick finished 3-for-7 with three runs scored, three RBIs, and two stolen bases. Enrique Lopez added three hits, including a double, drove in two runs, scored twice, and stole a base. Carson Slager also collected three hits and two RBIs.
In the middle of the order, Aaron Mingo had a big day with three hits, including a home run, while driving in two and scoring twice. Ben Howard added three hits, including a double, and drove in two more runs. Seth Dahlenburg delivered one of the biggest swings of the day, going 3-for-5 with a home run, a double, four RBIs, and two runs scored. Cross Stephens chipped in two hits, two runs scored, one RBI, and two stolen bases, while Dylan Mayorga came through off the bench with a two-RBI hit.
Justin Holt helped keep the pressure on all afternoon, drawing four walks and scoring three times as Long Beach consistently put traffic on the bases. The Vikings finished with five walks, six stolen bases, two home runs, and four doubles in the win.
On the mound, Aaron Mingo got the start and worked the first two innings, allowing one run while striking out three. Zach Papscoe followed with three scoreless innings and four strikeouts to steady the game through the middle frames. Daiki Arimoto, Riley Jones, and Jaycob De La Torre combined to finish it out, with De La Torre tossing a scoreless ninth.
The Vikings will return home on April 9 to host Chaffey College at 2:00 p.m.
