Baseball: Rio Hondo rallies late for 11-4 win at Victor Valley

Rio Hondo College totaled a season-high 20 hits but had to rally late to pull out an 11-4 Foothill Conference win at Victor Valley College on Tuesday. The win improved the Roadrunners to 9-10 overall and 4-3 in conference play.

Mike Hernandez paced the Roadrunners' offense by going 2 for 4 with 3 RBI. With Rio Hondo trailing 1-0 in the sixth inning, Hernandez smacked a two-run single to score Jordan Abernathy and R.J. Romo. Three batters later, Danny Marquez lined a two-out RBI double to drive in Hernandez and extend the Rio Hondo lead to 3-1.

But Victor Valley (1-20, 0-10 FC) came right back to tie up the game in the bottom of the sixth. Hernandez gave the Roadrunners the lead back for good in the eighth. Abernathy hit a lead-off double and promptly came in to score on Hernandez' single.

Rio Hondo blew the game open in the ninth as the Roadrunners exploded for seven runs and seven hits. Mauricio Guadarrama delivered the big hits, smashing a two-run home run to get things going. Randy Buenrostro hit a RBI single, Matt Munoz drove in a pair with a triple before coming in to score on a wild pitch, and Gabe Chavez closed out the scoring with a run-scoring single.

Joe Wills improved to 5-1 with the win for Rio Hondo. He allowed two earned runs and nine hits over eight innings.

The Roadrunners and Victor Valley continue their three-game Foothill Conference series on Thursday (Mar. 24) when they take the field at Rio Hondo in Game 2 at 2:30 p.m.