Late game heroics in the jungle as Roadrunner’s baseball team beat El Camino College

The conclusion of the two game series involving the Rio Hondo Roadrunners and the El Camino Warriors ended with a walk-off victory by Rio Hondo. Not only was it a nail-biting win, but the Roadrunners showed their fearlessness to take down the undefeated Warriors not just once but twice.

The game resulted in a 6-5 victory created by a two game winning streak for the Roadrunners. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Alex Rodriguez hit a triple to score Nick Ybarra. Although the run was unearned, Rio needed any possible way to stay alive in their last at bats.

While Rodriguez was at third base, Tony Rosario hit a hard groundball that was muffled by shortstop for El Camino, Darian Sylvester. This resulted in Rodriguez scoring from third base to achieve the walk off victory for the Roadrunners. Before El Camino faced Rio Hondo, they were undefeated in conference play with a perfect 17-0 record. Rio Hondo stepped up to the power house team and showed their scrappiness to pull off yet another victory.

What really made this victory special was that the Roadrunners came from behind to win without their head coach Mike Salazar. In the meantime Mike Guzman took over the third base coaching responsibilities and successfully pulled off a victory for his team. Before Rio Hondo walked-off in the ninth inning, the top half of the inning was a cheerless one.

Mr. Consistent relief pitcher, Anthony Franco, was pitching well in a 3-3 tie before Trevor Casanova stepped up to the plate. With Cody Wissler on second base, Casanova took a fastball deep to left center field to take the air out of the jungle. After the next batter singled up the middle, Franco was replaced on the mound by hard throwing right hander, Edmundo Fernandez. Fernandez was able to get the last out of the inning and give a chance for the team to come back.

Rio Hondo didn’t just make a comeback, they fought back to take down the best team in the conference. Next game for Rio will be a home game against Chaffey College Tuesday April 2. Rio Hondo is now 18-15 overall and 10-9 in league. Rio Hondo advances in the South Coast Conference-South to the second seed behind Pasadena.