Baseball Clinches Series against East LA

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College scored a hard-fought 2-1 South Coast Conference win over visiting East Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon at Warrior Field.

The Warriors edged the Huskies on a day when pitching reigned supreme. For the Warriors, Jake Stolnack and Aaron Ragat bested Huskies starter Nathan Mertens despite a complete game from the visiting team's ace.

Stolnack went 5 and 2/3 innings and allowed just one unearned run on two hits with three walks and three strikeouts to pick up his first win of the season in his first start. Ragat was masterful in relief as he shut the Huskies offense out, allowing no runs on no hits with two walks and three strikeouts to pick up his first save of the year.

The Warriors needed that excellent effort from their duo on the mound as Mertens allowed two runs, unearned, on seven hits and struck out 15 Warriors while allowing just two walks.

On offense, Joey Replogle supplied the scoring for the Warriors as he went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. In the fifth inning, he belted a two-out double off the base of the wall in left and down the line which allowed Ryan Matsukawa and Mason Martinez to walk in with the game-tying and eventual game-winning run.

The Huskies took the lead in the first inning when Fabian Dominguez reached on an error and then came around to score on a two-out single from Beno Olmeda for a quick 1-0 lead.

But Stolnack would retire the next eight in a row and 14 of the last 17 hitters he faced before the Huskies got a runner on second in the sixth inning. Stolnack gave way to Ragat in his first career appearance for the Warriors and he proceeded to get a flyout from Olmeda to end the threat.

Ragat would retire eight of the nine hitters he faced until the Huskies mounted one last threat with one out in the top of the ninth.

Evan Chavez and Olmeda drew a pair of walks to put the tying run in scoring position but Ragat got pinch-hitter Manny Ramirez Jr. to ground into a game ending 5-4-3 double play.

The Warriors will now look to complete a series sweep on Saturday in the final game of the series at ELAC with first pitch set for noon.