Eagles Move Into First Place With Sweep of Desert

The MSJC baseball team moved into first place in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference standings last week as they beat College of the Desert in three straight games.

The Eagles opened the series at home on Tuesday and used a four run bottom of the 3rd to win over the Roadrunners 7-4.  Kyle Serna and Dominick Lombardi both had an RBI single in the inning and Nate Prinkey added a two run base hit.  Prinkey and Lombardi would also add run scoring singles in the 7th to add some insurance.  Julian Castro improved to 4-0 on the mound as he went 6 innings allowing 3 earned runs and striking out 8.

Thursday MSJC traveled to Palm Desert and defeated the Roadrunners 9-1.  Prinkey stayed hot as he drove in a team high 3 runs, Christian Smith added a double and a pair of RBIs.  MSJC broke open a scoreless game in the top of the 4th when Lombardi launched a two run homerun.  Joseph Romero was dominate on the mound as he threw a complete game allowing just one run and striking out a career high 15.

MSJC finished off the conference sweep Saturday as they defeated Desert at home 6-5.  The Eagles fell behind 4-0 in the top of the first, but rallied there way back.  MSJC took the lead for good on an RBI single from Juni Rodriguez in the bottom of the 6th and then pushed the lead to 6-4 in the 7th when Tanner Aoki had an RBI single.  Evan Stratton earned the pitching victory going 8 innings and allowing 3 earned runs.  Trysten Eddy earned his 3rd save of the year, despite giving up one run in the 9th.

The Eagles also squeezed in a non-conference game last week as they fell to Long Beach City on Friday 17-3.  

MSJC now stands at 18-5 overall on the year and are 8-1 in IEAC games.  They are currently one game ahead of Chaffey in the league standings.  This week MSJC will host Barstow on Tuesday and Saturday and will travel to play the Vikings on Thursday.