The Long Beach City College baseball team defeated the Rio Hondo College Roadrunners 6-5 in game one of their three-game conference series. With the win, the Vikings advance to 13-10 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

Freshman pitcher Matthew Pinal (4-2) earned the win on the hill with only allowing the Roadrunners to two runs on three hits, while striking out three in the final two innings.

Freshman third baseman Evan Vasquez put the Vikings on the board in the bottom of the second inning with a bomb to center field to score in Pinal. Then freshman second baseman Kamau Neighbors singeld to left field to bat in Vazquez to take the lead 2-0.

In the bottom of the third, the Vikings were back at it with a hit to left field from freshman center fielder Moises Guzman to score in freshman short stop Alex Seguine and freshman designated hitter Ryan Guerero to extend the Vikings' lead to 4-0.

The Roadrunners got on the board in the top of the fifth with and RBI single, but then the Vikings added another run from Vazquez in the bottom of the sixth.

Rio Hondo rallied in the top of the seventh with four runs to tie the game at 5-5. In the bottom of the eighth, with freshman pinch runner Brett Abudayyeh on second, Guzman reached first on a Roadrunner error and Abudayyeh was able to score in the run that the Vikings needed to seal the 6-5 conference win.

The Vikings will be back on the field on Thursday, March 24 at Rio Hondo College at 2:30 p.m.