Warriors Drop Conference Opener

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College fell behind early and never recovered in a 6-5 loss to Rio Hondo in the South Coast Conference opener on Tuesday afternoon at Warrior Field.

The Warriors (7-6, 0-1) trailed by as much as four runs in the game but were able to scratch back into the game against the Roadrunners (7-6, 1-0) but could never get over the hump.

This season, the Warriors have fallen behind by at least three runs in a game six times and have gone 1-5 in those games counting Tuesday's loss.

It happened after three innings on Tuesday as Joshua Lopez hit a two-run home run for the Roadrunners to put the Warriors in a 3-0 hole. The Roadrunners would score all six of their runs in four straight innings from the second through the fifth.

The Warriors were able to keep pace, scoring single runs in the third, fourth and fifth to stay within striking distance. They would cut the deficit to one run in the seventh off RBI singles from Patrick Stark and Connor Meidroth.

But reliever David Medrano retired the last seven batters he faced to secure his first save of the year for Rio Hondo, going three innings and allowing two runs on four hits with two strikeouts.

Daniel Murillo went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Dylan Knowles was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored for the Warriors in a losing effort.

Warriors pitching struggled on Tuesday as four pitchers combined to give up six runs, five earned, on nine hits along with seven walks and 11 strikeouts.

Tuesday marked the sixth time this season the Warriors have walked seven or more batters and the 12th time they've issued multiple walks. They are currently tied for fourth most walks allowed in Southern California with 77. This despite also being tied for second in SoCal with 117 strikeouts.

The Warriors will look to even up the series with Rio Hondo on Wednesday afternoon in Whittier. The game has been moved up from Thursday due to inclement weather in the forecast for Thursday.