The Rio Hondo Men’s Baseball team looked to continue their fantastic play in conference as they headed into a three-game series against Barstow starting on April 5.

The Roadrunners are coming off a previous three-game series against conference rival San Bernardino Valley College, where they went 2-1 in those games with the one loss coming in extra innings.

Rio Hondo brought a red-hot offense that has scored a total of 43 runs over its last six conference games, losing only one game in that span.

Game one took place at “The Jungle” at Rio Hondo on April 5 with starting pitcher Joe Willis taking the mound for the Roadrunners.

Barstow’s starting pitcher Osvaldo Escobar did a magnificent job in slowing down Rio’s offense for most of the seven innings he pitched, but was hit with a run apiece in the fourth and sixth inning.

Both of Escobar’s earned runs were scored on singles. Left-fielder Fernando Rosales scored right-fielder Jordan Abernathy in the fourth, then Abernathy picked up an RBI in the sixth plating home shortstop Mauricio Guadarrama.

Two runs proved to be enough for Willis as he single-handedly stifled San Bernardino’s offense through nine innings, earning his team the 2-0 victory.

Willis gave up only three hits to 30 batters while striking out eight and only walking one in the process, bringing his pitching record to 6-1.

Rio took its overall record to 15-11 just two days later on April 7 at Barstow, winning by a whopping score of 16-5.

Unlike the game two days prior, in which the Roadrunners were only held to two runs, this game was more like the offense they had been used to playing over the past few weeks.

Both teams came out swinging early, and Rio Hondo’s three run top of the first was outdone by Barstow’s four runs in the bottom half of the inning.

With Barstow leading 4-3 after one inning, the Roadrunners put the pressure on Barstow’s pitchers, belting them for an eight run inning.

The inning began with designated hitter R.J. Romo leading off and ended with Romo doubling home a run as the Roadrunners saw themselves bat around in the second inning.

Two errors made by Barstow’s pitcher and catcher combined with three singles ultimately put Rio in the driver’s seat for the rest of the game as they ended the second inning, leading 11-5.

The Roadrunners tacked on five more runs and held Barstow to zero. Four Rio players finished the day with multiple RBI’s as Rio Hondo used 13 hits to seal a 16-5 road win.

After their win, Rio Hondo’s record improved to 16-11 overall.

Rio Hondo will next face Cerro Coso on April 12 at 2:30 in what will be a three game series. They will go on to face Cerro Coso again on April 14 at 2:30 p.m. and then again on April 16 at 12:00 p.m.