Warriors Winning Streak Snapped by Rio Hondo

TORRANCE, Calif. – No. 1 El Camino College's 25-game winning streak came to an end Tuesday afternoon as the Warriors dropped a 3-2 South Coast Conference Inter-Divisional matchup against Rio Hondo at Warrior Field.

The Warriors (33-3, 17-1) tasted defeat at home for the first time this season and just the third time this season they were held to two runs or less. Taylor Rashi suffered just his second loss of the season on the mound as he surrendered all three runs, only one earned, on seven hits. He walked two and struck out nine in six innings of work.

His counterpart was just a bit better for the Roadrunners (17-15, 9-9) as right-hander Brady Carlson kept the Warriors bats off balance throughout the day. He tossed seven solid innings and allowed just one run on five hits. He struck out six on the day.

The Warriors fell behind early as the Roadrunners scratched across a pair of unearned runs in the second inning. Nick Ybarra started things off with a one-out double to left-center field and then Tony Rosario followed with a single through the left side. Christian Valdez then stepped up and laid down a sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher but Rashi overran the ball and the Roadrunners ended up with the bases loaded on the error. Gabe Chavez hit a sacrifice fly to center to plate the first run of the game and then Danny Marquez singled through the right side to score another run and make it 2-0 for Rio Hondo.

In their half of the frame, the Warriors got two runners on with one out but Carlson wiggled out of the jam, getting Hunter Lewis to line out and then he struck out Darian Sylvester to end the threat.

It was a trend that continued for ECC throughout as they left 11 runners on base in the game.

The Roadrunners padded their lead in the fourth with a sacrifice fly from R.J. Romo and held the three-run cushion until the bottom of the sixth inning. In the frame, Brady Dorn led off with a walk and then Angel Mora singled to put two runners on with no one out. Ryan Eastburn barreled a ball off Carlson but directly into right-fielder Randy Buenrostro's mitt for the first out. Noah Barba then came up and singled through the right side to drive in Dorn and cut the deficit to two.

A wild pitch followed to put runners on second and third but Carlson again limited the damage as he got Cody Wissler to hit a chopper to short. Chavez came home with the throw to nail Mora trying to score and there were two down in the inning with runners at the corners. Carlson then froze Lewis on an outside fastball with the count full to record the third out and get out of the jam.

The Warriors last chance came in the bottom of the ninth as Casanova launched his fifth home run of the season off reliever Isaiah Ramos to bring ECC within a run. Ty Conrad then singled up the middle off Roadrunners closer Anthony Franco to put the tying run on base.

Dorn stepped in and lined a ball just shy of the warning track in right field for the second out and then Franco struck out Mora looking to end the ballgame and give the Warriors their first loss since Feb. 16 at Saddleback.

With Long Beach City defeating ECC Compton Center, 1-0, on Tuesday, the Warriors magic number to clinch the outright SCC-South Division title remains at one. The Warriors travel to Rio Hondo Thursday with first pitch scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

Notes: The Warriors were 8-0 when the opponent scored first in a game this season prior to Tuesday's loss… Casanova, Conrad and Barba accounted for six of the Warriors seven hits on Tuesday… Conrad extended his hitting streak to 11 games Tuesday while Mora and Casanova have hits in seven straight games… Kenneth Haus tossed three innings of scoreless relief for the Warriors, allowing two hits and striking out three… Dorn has now reached base safely in 33 straight games.