Baseball: Rio Hondo outlasts Citrus in 11 innings

Rio Hondo College banged out 15 hits and took advantage of three crucial Citrus College errors to pull out a 6-5, walk-off win in 11 innings over the visiting Owls on Saturday in Whittier. The non-conference victory improved the Roadrunners to 3-2 overall while Citrus fell to 0-3-1.

Sophomore Randy Buenrostro had a huge game at the plate for Rio Hondo. He went 4 for 6, including a two-run homerun in the bottom of the fifth inning that gave the Roadrunners a 4-2 lead.

But Citrus came right back in the top of the sixth to tie up the game with two runs. The score remained tied all the way until the 10th when the Owls got a solo home run from Benjamin Aguilera to take a 5-4 lead.

Rio Hondo responded with a run of its own in the bottom of the 10th to fend off the loss. Marcos Rivas led off with a single, moved to second on a sac bunt, and advanced to third on a single by Danny Marquez. With two outs, Rivas came in to score after a wild pitch by Citrus' Matthew Rubalcava-Sanchez.

And in the 11th, Nick Ybarra got the game-winning rally with a lead-off single. R.J. Romo was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Two batter later, an error by Citrus catcher Jordan Achay allowed Ybarra to come around and score.

Ybarra and Marquez both had three hits to help pace the Roadrunners' offense.

Isaiah Ramos provided a solid start on the mound for Rio Hondo despite a no-decision. He allowed four runs (one earned) and eight hits over 5 2/3 innings while striking out seven. Keanu Herrera and Andrew Quillen combined for two scoreless innings in relief while Anthony Franco improved to 2-0 after tossing the final three innings, allowing one runs and two hits.

Rio Hondo returns to action on Wednesday (Feb. 8) when the Roadrunners travel to former Foothill Conference rival San Bernardino Valley College for a 2 p.m. non-conference game.