CYPRESS, CA- Chargers baseball (8-3, 0-0 OEC) defeated the Long Beach City Vikings (4-9, 0-0 WSC) on Tuesday afternoon, 7-3.
The cold windy day brought a close matchup against Long Beach and Cypress with nineteen hits shared between the two teams. The Chargers started the scoring early in the game with a home run in the bottom of the first inning. Leadoff hitter Jack Burke laced a double to spark the Cypress bats. After two outs were recorded, Dean Toigo rocketed a ball over the right field wall to put the home team up two runs. In the third frame, the Vikings claimed a run off of a wild pitch mistake by the Chargers.
Though, the Cypress response was quick and a repeat of the first inning. Albert De La Rosa got hit by a pitch to get on first base. Toigo stepped up for his second at-bat of the game and launched yet another home run to put his team up, 4-1. Long Beach City answered with a home run as well in the sixth inning. However, the Chargers scored a run on a wild pitch in the bottom half of the sixth. A frame later, the Vikings hit a second solo home run to decrease their deficit.
With only a 5-3 lead, the home team looked to separate themselves as the seventh inning stretch concluded. After two outs, Nick Mascaro hit a high fly ball into a triangle between the second baseman, left fielder and right fielder. The center fielder dropped it which caused a costly error for the Vikings that allowed two Cypress baserunners to score. The Charger bullpen did their job and only gave up one baserunner in the final two frames. The matchup finished with a score of 7-3 as the home team won their eighth game of the season.
Right fielder, Toigo had a great day at the plate with four RBI's from his two home runs and earned a walk. Burke played well behind the dish as he went 2-5 and scored twice. De La Rosa managed to score, get a hit and a walk as he went 1-3. On the mound, starter Trey Seeley earned the win as he pitched six frames, struck out six and only allowed two runs. Connor Wylde came in for relief for one inning in the seventh and Logan Groff finished the game with two frames and struck out one. The mistakes from the Vikings proved to be an important factor with the back and forth matchup. With no errors on the Cypress defense, their bats and gloves managed to best Long Beach City for the team's third consecutive win.
UP NEXT: The Chargers will host San Bernardino Valley for their next game on Wednesday, February 22nd. First pitch will be at 1:30pm.
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