Report By LBCC
The Long Beach City College baseball team opened the postseason with a 6-4 win over visiting Grossmont College in Game 1 of their best-of-three Southern California Regional Playoffs series on Friday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field.
The win improved the No. 6-seed Vikings to 28-13 overall while No. 10 Grossmont had its six-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 27-14.
Freshman Matt Johnson went the distance for the win, but things started off rocky for him in the first.
Grossmont center fielder Sequoyah Stonecipher drew a one-out walk in the top of the first inning, which was followed by a two-run homerun by catcher Kevin Silvett to give the Griffins a quick 2-0 advantage.
But the Vikings came right back in the bottom of the first to reclaim the lead for good.
Center fielder Michael Schultz led off with a double down the left-field line and shortstop Hector Iribe was hit by a pitch. Second baseman Trevor Costin followed that with a grounder to short that appeared to be an easy double play opportunity, but Grossmont’s Brian Sagun booted the ball to load the bases.
With no outs, Grossmont starting pitcher Todd Jones got catcher Jonathan Keener to foul out and then struck out right fielder Randy Guite. Jones appeared to be on his way to getting out of the jam, but designated hitter Brian Loard smacked a 2-2 pitch to left for a double that cleared the bases and gave LBCC a 3-2 lead.
The Vikings added three more key runs in the bottom of the fifth. Schultz led off the frame with his first homerun of the season. Costin singled his way on base and two batters later came in to score on a passed ball. Guite earned a two-out walked, moved to second on the passed ball, stole third base, and came in on a RBI single by Loard.
Johnson cruised his way through Grossmont’s lineup until struggling in the top of the eighth. With two outs, Stonecipher walked and Silvett singled to set up a two-run single by right fielder Ryan Hulbert. With the score 6-4, Grossmont had the tying run at the plate in designated hitter Nick Placone. But Johnson struck him out to end the rally. Johnson allowed a single with two outs in the ninth, but got left fielder Robert Aguirre to fly out to right to end the ballgame and give LBCC the 1-0 lead in the series.
Johnson (5-1) allowed four runs and nine hits in the complete-game win. He struck out seven and walked two. Loard closed his game going 2 for 4 (2B) with 4 RBI while Schultz was 2 for 4 (HR, 2B) with two runs and a RBI.
Jones (7-2) also went the distance for Grossmont in the losing effort. He gave up six runs (only one earned) and nine hits while striking out three.
Silvett was a perfect 4 for 4 (HR, 2B, 2 runs) with 2 RBI while Hulbert also drove in two going 2 for 4.
Game 2 of the series is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday (May 9) at Joe Hicks Memorial Field with Game 3 to follow if necessary.
The winner of the series advances to next weekend’s (May 15-17) Super Regional, hosted by the top two remaining seeds.