Rio Hondo College’s baseball team hosted Chaffey College April 25 for the first game of a three-game series as the Roadrunners closed out their conference play. After snapping El Camino’s 25 game winning streak  with back to back wins April 18 and April 20, Rio Hondo looked to keep up the momentum against the Panthers.

Chaffey had plans of their own, though, and opened the scoring in the top of the second-inning as Aaron McCann homered getting two RBI as Jake Nichols scored, giving the Panthers an early 2-0 lead at The Jungle.

The score would remain the same until the top of the sixth-inning as Marco Hernandez advanced to third on an error by Rio’s shortstop, allowing McCann to get his second run on the evening. Shortly after, Chaffey kept the pace going and Christian Lyman doubled getting an RBI as M. Hernandez scored as Rio Hondo struggled to make an impact on the game.

With the score now at 4-0, the Panthers closed out the game in the top of the seventh-inning as Jordan Hernandez singled getting an RBI as Oscar Martinez makes it a 5-0 win in the first game of the series for Chaffey College.

Rio Hondo College will next travel to Rancho Cucamonga where they will face Chaffey College in the second game of the series on which the Roadrunners need to pick up a win if they want to keep their conference hopes alive.

The Roadrunners returned to action April 27 as they travelled to Rancho Cucamonga in search of a win after a tough loss two days prior. The Roadrunners started the game off strong with Randy Buenrostro getting a single, RBI as R.J. Romo opened the scoring. Cesar Sandoval kept the momentum going with a double and two RBI as Alex Rodriguez advanced to third base while Gabe Chavez and Buenrostro scored making it a 3-0 game in the top of the first-inning.

Chaffey College would quickly respond in the bottom of the first-inning as Nichols singled getting an RBI as Jordan Hernandez scored followed by a double from McCann as he picked up an RBI sending Nichols home making it a 3-2 game.

Rio Hondo would pick up another run in the top of the third-inning as Sandoval reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second on the throw getting an RBI while Chavez scored. Chaffey once again responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the third-inning. McCann reached on a fielder’s choice, RBI, allowing Nichols to advance to second with Logan Gopperton advancing to third base as Jonathan Longtin scored unearned making it a 4-3 game.

The top of the fourth-inning saw Romo walked to first as Danny Marquez advanced to second base pushing Nick Ybarra to third base as Marcos Rivas scored. Next up, Alex Rodriguez singled getting two RBI with Chavez advancing to third base as Romo and Ybarra both scored putting Rio up 7-3. Chavez would add an additional run to the tally thanks to Sandoval who singled getting an RBI.

Chaffey College would return the favor with a rally of their own, where the Panthers would pick up a whopping 11 runs to completely turn the game around. Longtin started off the inning with a triple getting three RBI as J. Hernandez, Martinez and Keller scored cutting the Panthers deficit to two.

Gobberton next reached on a fielder’s choice getting an RBI as Longtin scored followed by Joel Osuna who doubled getting an RBI scoring Gobberton. The Panthers kept their momentum going as Martinez singled getting two RBI and Keller advanced to third base while Christian Lyman and Osuna scored giving Chaffey their first lead of the game, 8-9.

With the game in their favor and the momentum going their way, the Panthers continued to take advantage of their hitting streak. J. Hernandez singled getting an RBI as Martinez advanced to second base while Keller scored another run. Hot on the bat, Longtin picked up another double, two RBI as J. Hernandez and Martinez scored before Gobberton’s single scored Longtin himself making it a 8-14 game at the end of the inning.

The Roadrunners would begin to chip away at the lead in the top of the seventh-inning as Marquez singled and advanced to second base getting two RBI as Ybarra and Rivas scored before Marquez himself later scored on a walk. Rio Hondo College lost 11-14 against Chaffey College and will next host the Panthers April 28 in their final home game of their conference season.