Trying to get back in the win column, the Rio Hondo Baseball team host Victor Valley College Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 2:00 p.m.. After losing this past Saturday, Feb. 23 to Oxnard, they stand at (4-5) on the season.

The Rio Hondo men’s baseball team have started their 2019 season slowly (the Roadrunners are currently in a two-game losing streak) and they’ve lost six of their last seven being out scored 58 to 26 in that time frame.

This game is a key point in the season for their overall total record. It is the last game of non-conference play and every game is important at this point.
The Victor Valley Desert Rams are 6-5 on the season and this will be the second time the two teams have met each other this season. The Roadrunners were defeated the first time round Feb. 15. Rio Hondo will look to capitalize on the comforts of being home this time, as they had to travel to the desert previously.

Rio Hondo needs to do better in many facets of the game. They especially need to pick up their overall team batting average which is just at .262. With just one home run on the season, they need to realize that they’re not a power-hitting team. Embrace the small-ball mentality and capitalize on more opportunities with runners in scoring position.

With the offense not scoring as much as they’d like, they will need their defense to be stellar from here on out. They have been anything but that this season. They have 19 errors in nine games. Eliminating errors means eliminating opportunities for their opponents. Routine plays are always supposed to lead to outs. 27 outs is needed in a game and letting opponents off easy with extra chances always makes it more difficult to get a win.

Overall, the Rio Hondo Roadrunners are not out of it. They still have many games to play and much time to turn things around. Things will get amped up in conference play as every game will count towards playoff implications. Conference play starts Feb. 28. It’s not too late for the Roadrunners to turn things around, but playing like they have the last nine games, won’t cut it.