Baseball Unable to Hold On in Narrow Loss to Long Beach
Compton, Calif. - Three Tartars earned two-hit outings, but the Compton baseball team was unable to hold on to a one-run lead in the final inning, falling 10-9 to Long Beach on Tuesday afternoon.
Freshmen Billy Sanchez, Julian Sansores, and Jihad Hoffman all tallied two hits each with Hoffman counting a pair of RBI.
Compton jumped on the board early in the opening inning off a RBI by freshman Kevin Smith and a RBI double by Sansores. But Long Beach answered back in the next half inning with five runs to hold a 5-2 lead.
The Tartars chipped away at the three-run gap, tying the game in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI single by sophomore Caleb Valentine after a two-run fourth thanks to a two-RBI single by Hoffman.
Freshman Shoma Yoshida earned his RBI single to score freshman Nick Redick, giving the Tartars the 6-5 edge going into the sixth inning.
Freshman Anthony Gonzalez knocked in the Tartars' ninth run in the seventh to give the Tartars a 9-8 lead heading into the final inning after freshman pinch runner Julian Rodriguez-Guevara scored on a passed ball during Gonzalez's at bat.
But after an inning opening double by Long Beach, the Vikings pulled ahead with the Tartars unable to answer in their final three outs.
Freshman Danny Hernandez (1-2) was charged with the loss after throwing 0.2 innings and allowing one run.
The Tartars (6-16, 1-7) head to Long Beach (12-12, 4-5) next to continue the series on Thursday, Mar. 22 at 2:30 p.m.