Baseball: First inning dooms Roadrunners in 10-3 loss at Long Beach

Rio Hondo College couldn't overcome a five-run, first-inning rally by Long Beach City College and suffered a 10-3 South Coast Conference loss at LBCC's Joe Hicks Memorial Field on Tuesday.

Long Beach took both games of the two-game conference series after winning the opener by a final score of 7-4 in Whittier on Saturday.

After the tough first inning, Rio Hondo starter Nick Juarez settled down to record a pair of scoreless innings. James Wright followed and threw more scoreless innings to keep any hopes of a Roadrunner comeback alive.

Rio Hondo finally cut into the Vikings' lead in the top of the seventh, scoring three runs to chase LBCC starter Sebastian Irwin from the mound. Ricky Akles and Jorge Centeno hit RBI singles while Jimmy Portillo smacked a double to also drive in a run.

With Long Beach (10-10, 4-2 SCC) leading 5-3, the Vikings responded with three runs in the bottom of the seventh and scored two more in the eighth to put the game out of reach.

Akles led the Roadrunners at the plate, going 3 for 5 with a run and RBI while Michael Roque has two base hits.

Juarez took the loss, allowing four earned runs and six hits over three innings.

The loss dropped Rio Hondo to 6-11 overall and 2-4 in conference play. The Roadrunners will look to snap a four-game losing streak when they begin another two-game SCC series on Thursday (Mar. 14) against Cerritos College. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.