Long Beach City College baseball beat Cerritos 11-1 yesterday to take over first place in the South Division of the South Coast Conference and secure a regional playoff berth.
The Vikings (21-12, 14-4) started the season by losing seven of their first nine games, but turned their season around with balanced offense and a deep pitching staff.
Sophomore second baseman Raul Gonzalez leads LBCC with 47 hits, and sophomore first baseman Mark Stanford has a team-high 31 RBIs with four home runs. Ace pitcher Garrett Rennie has won six of his 11 starts while striking out 71 in 73 innings. Lakewood High alum Sebastian Irwin has a 2.39 ERA in 52.2 innings. LBCC has outscored its opponents 214-135 this season.
LBCC hosts Cerritos at 12 p.m. on Saturday, and has seven games left in the regular season.
