Warriors Win Series Against Mounties in Extra-Inning Thriller

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College scored a thrilling 4-3 South Coast Conference victory over Mt. San Antonio in extra innings on Saturday afternoon at Warrior Field.

The Warriors had to overcome a one-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth and then got big contributions from Dylan A. Garcia and Johnny Munoz in the 11th inning to claim the victory in a critical conference series.

Gil Solis went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs with Caden Lewis going 3-for-4 with one run scored. Henry Sorman scored the victory on the mound, tossing four innings of scoreless relief while allowing just two hits.

Solis opened the scoring for ECC in the fourth inning with a two-out, two-run double to left off Mounties' starter Brenden Menchaca. The Warriors held on to that two-run cushion until the sixth when the Mounties tied things up on a two-run homer by catcher Hudson Karczynski. With two outs, the Mounties got a double from Luca Lombardi and an RBI single from Mario Cuadros to drive in the go-ahead run and give Mt. SAC a 3-2 lead.

In the ninth, Lewis hit a one-out single to right-center to put the tying run on base. Kelvin Martinez would pinch run and then Solis skied a double off the wall in right-center. Martinez froze at second as Mounties' outfielder Tyler Primanto made a jumping attempt to make the catch at the wall, preventing Martinez on scoring the tying run at that point.

A few batters later with two outs, Martinez would come in on a wild pitch by reliever Noah Tanphanich to tie the game up at 3-3. The Warriors would load the bases in the inning but came up empty as Nolan Fox flied out to left to end the inning.

After a scoreless 10th, the Mounties would get the potential go-ahead run to second base in the 11th but Sorman induced a groundout to third to end that threat.

In the bottom of the inning, Garcia entered the game as a pinch-hitter and smacked a leadoff, fading triple that went off the glove of right fielder Andrew Alva, who was in full stride chasing after the ball.

Solis would step up with a chance to win the game but fouled out to first, bringing Munoz up to bat. The catcher then smacked a 2-2 offering from reliever Seth Sumner back up the middle past the drawn-in infield to score the game-winning run to give the Warriors the win in the game and in the critical series between two of the top teams in the conference.

The Warriors will return to conference action on Tuesday afternoon when L.A. Harbor pays a visit to Warrior Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.