Coming off a sweep at the hands of Long Beach City College, the Rio Hondo College baseball team bounced back to pull off a sweep of its own, taking all three games of a South Coast Conference series against Compton College. The Roadrunners took the opener in Compton on Tuesday by a final score of 5-1, won Game 2 in Whittier by a narrow 3-2 margin, and closed the set out with a 5-2 victory back in Compton on Saturday.
The three wins improved Rio Hondo to 11-9 overall and moved the Roadrunners into a third-place tie with Cerritos College in the SCC standings at 5-4.
Game 1: Rio Hondo 5, Compton 1
Steven Alvarez pitched a gem for the Roadrunners, scattering 8 hits over 7 innings while allowing just one run. He struck out four and walked 2. Robert Valdez was able to close the door, tossing a pair of scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts to secure the win.
Rio Hondo took advantage of three Compton errors to score all five of its runs. Diego Flores went 2 for 3 with a double and RBI to lead the Roadrunners at the plate. Leading 2-1, Rio Hondo rallied for three runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a commanding lead.
Game 2: Rio Hondo 3, Compton 2
Diego Perez smacked a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning to complete a three-run rally that gave the Roadrunners the win.
Down 1-0, Diego Flores and Charles Sousamian walked to open the frame. Pinch hitter Matthew Rafferty promptly followed with an RBI single that scored pinch runner Andrew Rodriguez and moved Sousamian to third base.
Two batters later, Perez doubled to drive in Sousamian and Rafferty to put Rio Hondo out in front for good.
Compton scored a run in the top of the ninth to cut the lead to one and had the tying run at second base, but Garrett Paschal struck out Jose Perez to end the ball game.
Starter Eric Amaya allowed 1 run and 3 hits over 5 innings. He struck out 6. Nick Juarez earned the win in relief, tossing 3 scoreless innings while Paschal got the save.
Game 3: Rio Hondo 5, Compton 2
Late-game heroics weren't necessary in this one as the Roadrunners put up two runs in the fifth and sixth innings to secure the victory.
Evan Foor turned in another quality start for Rio Hondo, tossing 6 innings allowing 2 runs (1 earned) and 6 hits over 6 innings. He struck out 5 and walked 2 in picking up the win. Nick Acedo closed it out for the save, throwing 3 scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts.
Rio Hondo took advantage of a pair of errors to score a run in the second and fifth innings. Matt Hickman's sacrifice fly scored a run, Sousamian hit an RBI single and Flores drove him home with a double to close out the Rio Hondo scoring.
Sousamian went 2 for 5 with a RBI and 2 runs to lead the Roadrunners' offense.
Up next for the Roadrunners, they will take a break from South Coast Conference action to play a three-game non-conference series against Ventura College. Game 1 is set for Monday (Mar. 9) at 2 p.m. in Ventura with Game 2 and 3 scheduled to be played at Rio Hondo on Thursday (Mar. 12, 2 p.m.) and Saturday (Mar. 14, 12 p.m.).