Baseball: Roadrunners fall 4-2 at Antelope Valley

A day following their season-opening victory, Rio Hondo College couldn't keep the momentum going as the Roadrunners took to the road and lost 4-2 at Antelope Valley College on Saturday. The non-conference loss evened Rio Hondo's record at 1-1.

Things looked good early for the Roadrunners after they greeted AVC starting pitcher Andrew Garcia by scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Garcia was wild in his opening day start as he hit the first three batters he faced and followed that by walking Randy Buenrostro and Tony Rosario to force in runs.

With Rio Hondo up 2-0, Antelope Valley (1-0) got a run in the second and third to tie the game. And the Marauders took the lead for good in the sixth. Griffin Hagen led off with a double off Rio Hondo relief pitcher Robert Lucia. Two batters later, John Reyes singled him home to score the go-ahead run.

Hagen hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to give AVC a two-run lead.

In the ninth, Rio Hondo had runners on first and third with two outs, but couldn't score the tying runs. Marcos Rivas hit a lead-off single and two batters later Gabe Chavez was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners with one out. But Antelope Valley's Andrew Wilson got Danny Marquez to ground into a game-ending double play to end the threat.

The Roadrunners totaled just three hits in the contest off of three Antelope Valley pitchers but managed to leave nine runners on base. RHC was aggressive on the base paths as they swiped four bases, including two by Buenrostro.

Lucia took the loss in relief. He allowed two runs and five hits over 4 1/3 innings. Starter Isaiah Ramos lasted just two innings and allowed a run and five hits.

Rio Hondo will look to get back on track on Tuesday (Jan. 31) when the Roadrunners host LA Pierce College in a 2 p.m. non-conference game.