Vikings’ fall short in their 2nd game out of 3 game set against Cerritos

The Vikings lose 8-2 to Cerritos on Thursday after winning the first game of the series on Mar. 3. 

Vikings starting pitcher Dylan Proost started strong but ultimately gave up two runs in the first two innings, one earned and one unearned, and kept his team in the game against their rivals. 

Third baseman Eshua Desai came up huge for his team in the top of 4th inning with a game tying two run home run, making it a brand new ball game for LBCC. 

Proost would eventually come out of the game in the bottom of the 5th inning, giving up a run, giving Cerritos the lead again, making it 3-2. 

Relief pitcher Ben Howard replaced Proost, getting out of the jam with runners on base left by Proost, giving LBCC a chance to even up the score. 

Unfortunately Howard would give up 3 hits in the bottom of 6th, giving up 2 runs before being replaced by southpaw reliever Sabin Tomlinson, leaving runners on second and first, with the score 5-2. 

“It’s just unfortunate that they got some hits and their hits were able to fall and they got some really good hits and nothing really hard, we hit the ball really hard but it was just at people. So I have nothing to be mad or sad about. They got to come to our yard, so it’s definitely going to be a good one on Saturday,” head coach Phillip Visico said. 

Tomlinson gave up a 3 run home run to 3rd baseman Mateo Heredia, blowing the game wide open by a dominant offensive performance from Cerritos, collecting 8 runs and 14 hits to seal the win. 

Designated hitter Garrett Rodriguez talked about the team approach at the plate. 

“We were barrelling baseballs, but they were lined out to people. On the Cerritos side, they were able to get those guys home and that’s what made the score for what it is and made the hit call for what it is,” Rodriguez said. 

Right fielder Aaron Mingo talked about his offensive struggles. 

“There’ve been a few at bats where I was swinging hard, but early in the count, you can’t do that for your team, you got to work the count to see if you can get on base,” Mingo said. 

LBCC will play game one of the two game Santa Ana series, Tuesday, at Santa Ana at 2 p.m.