Baseball: Roadrunners wrap up sweep of Mt. SAC, sit one game out of first

WHITTER – Rio Hondo College continues to roll though its South Coast Conference schedule. On Saturday, Dylan Schumacher drove in three runs while Diego Flores knocked in a pair to help lead the Roadrunners to a 7-4 victory over visiting Mt. San Antonio College at The Jungle.

The win capped a three-game series sweep of the Mounties following a narrow 3-2 victory in Walnut on Thursday and a 4-2 triumph on Friday at home. Since dropping a pair of SCC games to El Camino College, Rio Hondo has won seven of its last eight contests to improve to 8-3 in conference play, just one game back of El Camino for first in the SCC.

Schumacher and Flores played key roles in Thursday and Saturday's wins.

At Mt. SAC on Thursday, Rio Hondo rallied for a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning. To pull out the win. Schumacher smacked an RBI-double to drive in Joshua Perez. Flores followed with a single to score Schumacher with the go-ahead run.

On Saturday, Schumacher went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI. His RBI-double in the bottom of the first gave Rio Hondo a 1-0 advantage. He added a two-run single in the fourth to extend the Roadrunners' lead to 6-1. Flores went 2 for 4, driving in runs with a double in the third and a single in the fourth.

Sandwiched in between the wins was an impressive starting effort on the mound for the Roadrunners in Friday's contest. Bryan Garcia threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits. David Medrano closed it out with 1 2/3-inning save. He struck out two and gave up one hit.

Tyler Daniels (2 for 4, 2 runs, RBI) and Freddie Madera (2 for 4) both had two hits each to lead Rio Hondo on offense.

Rio Hondo improved to 14-9 overall after the sweep. The Roadrunners will take a break from South Coast Conference play to open a two-game non-conference series next against Ventura College. Rio Hondo is at VC on Tuesday (Mar. 21) and hosts the Pirates on Thursday (Mar. 23). Both games are set for 2:30 p.m. starts.