No. 3 Warriors Outslug Mounties to Win Tenth Straight

WALNUT, Calif. – No. 3 El Camino College jumped out to a big lead early and never let up as the Warriors collected their 10th straight victory with an 11-7 decision over Mount San Antonio College Saturday afternoon at Mazmanian Field.

Four players had multi-hit games and drove in two runs on the day for the Warriors (18-2, 5-0) to drop the Mounties (8-12, 1-4) in the first game of their two-game set.

"We really played well offensively today," said ECC head coach Nate Fernley. "It made up for us struggling on the mound.

Trevor Casanova led the charge for ECC, going 4-for-6 from the leadoff spot. He scored three runs and drove in a pair as he came a double short of hitting for the cycle. Ty Conrad went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, Angel Mora was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs while Ryan Eastburn went 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

Taylor Rashi picked up the victory on the mound for the Warriors despite not being at his sharpest. He was tagged up for six earned runs on 13 hits in five and 2/3 innings of work. He walked two and struck out four.

"He wasn't as sharp as he usually is but really battled through to get us into the sixth," Fernley said.

For the second straight game, ECC got solid relief from one hurler as Thomas Stropky tossed three and 1/3 innings and picked up his first save of the season. He allowed just one run on three hits and struck out two without issuing a walk.

The Warriors got started quickly, touching up Mounties starter David Valdivia for five runs and six hits before sending him packing in the second inning. Overall, the Warriors tagged Mounties pitching for 15 hits on the day including five extra-base hits.  

Casanova got it started with a leadoff single and then Brady Dorn tripled to bring in the Warriors catcher with the first run of the game. Mora then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Dorn and the Warriors had a quick two-run lead after one.

ECC broke it open in the second as Casanova hit a one-out triple to score Cody Wissler from first to make it 3-0. Conrad then doubled to plate Casanova, sticking a fork in Valdivia's day on the mound.

Reliever Mason Corneliussen came in and got Dorn to fly out for the second out. The Mounties defense faltered though as Mora would follow by reaching on and three-base error by the center fielder, allowing Conrad to score. Eastburn then tagged a single to plate Mora and the Warriors were up by six runs after two.

The Mounties rallied for three runs in the third off Rashi to cut the deficit in half but they would get no closer than that as the Warriors tacked on five more runs to secure the win.

The two teams will wrap up their two-game series on Tuesday afternoon at Warrior Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.