Warriors Win Seventh Straight in Walk-Off Fashion

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College won its seventh straight game and stayed unbeaten in conference play with a 5-4 victory over Long Beach City in extra innings on Saturday afternoon at Warrior Field.

Dylan Mares blasted an RBI double to the wall in right-center field to score Nathan Rivera from first base to clinch the win and keep ECC undefeated in South Coast Conference play.

Slater Nunez claimed the victory as he tossed two innings of scoreless relief and struck out four including a critical punch out with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th inning to keep the game tied and setup the eventual walk-off victory.

Mares was 1-for-3 on the day with two walks. Nunez went 1-for-4 with two RBIs at the plate after starting the game at shortstop.

Ben Howard took the loss and the blown save as he went 1 and 1/3 innings of relief and surrendered two runs on five hits with one walk.

The Warriors led for seven innings after taking a 1-0 lead in the first without the benefit of a hit. But with a 3-1 lead in the top of the eighth, the Warriors saw that comfortable lead evaporate thanks to some defensive and pitching miscues.

The Vikings scored three times in the eighth thanks to an error, an RBI triple and two wild pitches that allowed the go-ahead run to score.

But the Warriors found some late heroics of their own as Daniel Craig took his first and only at-bat of the game to lead off the ninth and hammered a double to left-center. Craig would advance to third on a flyout and then tied the game when Kai Nagashima laced a single up the middle to send the game to extras.

Nagashima finished the game 2-for-4 with an RBI.

In the tenth, Rivera worked a leadoff walk on five pitches to get the potential game-winning run on base. He didn't have to wait there long as Mares muscled a pitch from Howard to right-center where it got past the center fielder. This allowed Rivera to come in to score all the way from first base to clinch the win for the Warriors.

Through two weeks of conference play, the Warriors are currently in first place with a 6-0 record with Cerritos and Mount San Antonio tied for second at 5-1. The Warriors will begin a crucial three-game series against Mt. SAC beginning on Tuesday at Warrior Field. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.