10:01am | The Long Beach City College baseball team suffered a 6-1 South Coast Conference loss to visiting East Los Angeles College on Saturday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field. 

With a win in the series finale, East LA took the three-game set 2-1.

The loss dropped Long Beach to 9-10 overall and 4-2 in the SCC, while East LA improved to 10-8 and 3-3 in conference play.

Long Beach totaled nine hits in the contest but stranded nine runners on base.

The Vikings scored their lone run in the bottom of the fifth. Freshman second baseman Derrick Garcia (Mayfair High School) singled and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore first baseman Kenny Uyetake (Los Alamitos High School).

An errant pickoff throw by East LA starting pitcher Chris Reyes allowed Garcia to move to third base. Sophomore center fielder Joe Lent (Los Alamitos) drove in Garcia with a two-out sacrifice fly to center.

Lent, Garcia, and freshman third baseman Corry Noss (Garden Grove High School) all had two hits to lead the Vikings at the plate.

East LA pounded out 14 hits against two LBCC pitchers. Sophomore Andy Hernandez (Paramount High School) picked up the loss to fall to 2-2. He allowed four runs (three earned) and 10 hits over six and one-third innings. He struck out seven and walked two.

Reyes (3-2) went the distance for the win. He scattered nine hits, allowing one unearned run with five strikeouts. Andy Salcido went four for five with three RBI to lead the Huskies’ offense.

The Vikings return to action today at 2:30 p.m. against Pasadena City College to begin another three-game South Coast Conference series. The series moves to Pasadena for Game 2 on Thursday, with the series finale back at LBCC on Saturday at noon.