Baseball: Roadrunners can’t hold late lead, fall at Chaffey

A three-run, ninth-inning rally by the Chaffey College Panthers sent the Rio Hondo College Roadrunners home with a 7-6 defeat on Tuesday in a South Coast Conference game in Rancho Cucamonga.

The loss dropped Rio Hondo to 11-19 overall and 4-10 in conference play.

The Roadrunners appeared to be well on their way to the win, taking a 6-4 advantage into the bottom of the ninth. Pat Biggs' solo home run for Rio Hondo in the top of the sixth inning broke a 4-4 tie while Kelby Nava's sacrifice fly scored Marcos Rivas in the eighth to extend the Roadrunners' lead.

But in the bottom of the the ninth, Evan Rice hit a three-run home run with two outs to give Chaffey the walk-off win.

Despite the loss, the Roadrunners got major production from the top of the lineup. The 1-2-3 hitters went a combined 8-for-15 in the contest. Rivas went 3-for-5 with two runs and a RBI, Nick Ybarra was also 3-for-5 and drove in a pair while Josh Sabajan went 2-for-5, including a pair of doubles.

Nicko Cottone turned in a solid start for Rio Hondo. He went five innings and allowed two earned runs and six hits. Andrew Quillen (2 IP) and Andy Garcia (1 IP) combined for three shutout innings.

Rio Hondo will look to snap its three-game losing streak on Thursday (April 12) at 2:30 p.m. when the SCC series vs. Chaffey moves to Whittier. Saturday's (April 14) finale is set for noon back at Chaffey.