Baseball: LBCC snaps four-game losing streak with 4-2 win over Irvine Valley

Sophomore second baseman Andy Hernandez (Paramount HS) went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI to help lead the Long Beach City College baseball team to a 4-2 non-conference win over visiting Irvine Valley College on Tuesday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field.

The win snapped the Vikings' four-game losing streak and improved their overall record to 15-17.

Long Beach received some timely hitting and an excellent pitching performance from sophomore starter Zachary Ketcher (St. John Bosco HS) and freshman reliever Omar Jimenez (Lakewood HS). The duo combined to hold IVC to just three hits in the ball game.

Ketcher retired the first nine batters he faced before allowing a run in the fourth. IVC's Scott Kaplan led off the fourth with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and came in to score on a passed ball.

Jimenez (5-3) closed out the game and earned the win after allowing two hits and a run over the final five innings. He struck out five and walked two.

Hernandez was nearly perfect at the plate for Long Beach. He hit a RBI double in the second to score sophomore center fielder Joe Lent (Los Alamitos HS) in the second and added a run-scoring single in the third to bring home sophomore first baseman Kenny Uyetake (Los Alamitos HS) in the third.

Uyetake's RBI single in the third drove in freshman shortstop Derrick Garcia (Mayfair HS), who doubled to lead off the inning.

LBCC added an insurance run in the eighth. Lent led off with a double and came in to score four batters later thanks to a two-out error by IVC shortstop AJ Cardenalli.

Cody Fitzgerald picked up the loss for Irvine Valley (17-16) to drop to 5-3 on the season. He allowed three runs and eight hits over six innings. He struck out five and walked one.

Josh Lesinski went 1 for 4 with a RBI single in the sixth for IVC. Kaplan and Bryce Hara had the other hits for the Lasers.

The two squads return to action on Thursday (Apr 21) at 2 pm when the brief two-game non-conference series shifts to Irvine.