Baseball: Roadrunners edged by LA Valley in extra innings

Second baseman Marcos Rivas went 3 for 5 with a double and RBI to lead Rio Hondo College at the plate in a narrow 7-6 loss in 10 innings to visiting LA Valley College on Tuesday in Whittier. The non-conference defeat dropped the Roadrunners to 11-14 overall.

Rio Hondo appeared to be on its way to a blow out after scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning and three more in the second to go ahead 5-0. But LA Valley (11-16) got a run back in the fourth before tying up the ballgame with a four-run, sixth-inning rally.

The Monarchs went ahead with a run in the eighth before Rio Hondo tied up the game once again in the bottom of the frame. Tony Rosario came through with a clutch two-out double that scored Luis Aguilar, who started the rally with a lead-off double.

But in the 10th, Noah Myhre smacked a solo home run with one out that proved to be the game winner for LA Valley. Rio Hondo had a chance to pull out the win in the bottom of the 10th as the Roadrunners had runners on second and third base with one out but couldn't get either runners in to score.

Edmundo Fernandez took the loss after allowing the final run and two hits over 2 ⅓ innings. Nicko Cottone put in a solid effort in the start as he allowed three runs and five hits over 5 ⅓ innings. He struck out five and walked three.

Rio Hondo returns to action on Thursday (March 29) when the Roadrunners travel to Oxnard College for a 2 p.m. non-conference game.