By LBCC Sports Information Specialist Chris Ruiz

The Long Beach City College baseball team pounded out 12 hits and took advantage of seven Orange Coast College errors in its 11-3 non-conference win at Joe Hicks Memorial Field on Wednesday.
 
It was the Vikings’ second straight win over an Orange Empire Conference opponent after downing top-ranked Santa Ana College on Tuesday.
 
Long Beach (4-3) scored two unearned runs off OCC starter Chris Licon in the second and then rallied for four runs in the bottom of the third. Catcher Josh Rush delivered the big blow with a double down the leftfield line that drove in a pair of runs.  LBCC added two more unearned runs in the sixth and another unearned run in the seventh to take a commanding 10-3 lead.
 
Freshman Josh Roberts put the exclamation point on the win with his two-run homerun to leftfield in the eighth.
 
Rush, (2 for 5, 2 RBI), sophomore Hector Iribe (2 for 3, 2 runs, 1 RBI), and sophomore Michael Schultz (2 for 5) all had a pair of hits to lead LBCC at the plate.
 
Freshman Jared Smith earned the win for Long Beach to move to 1-0. Smith went five innings and allowed one run and five hits while striking out five.
 
Freshman James Dorsey allowed two runs (one earned) and one hit in three innings of relief and sophomore Scott Watson closed out the game with a perfect ninth inning.
 
Licon (0-1) picked up the loss for Orange Coast (2-3). He allowed six runs (four earned) and eight hits over three innings.
 
Long Beach and Orange Coast are scheduled to continue their three-game series on Friday at 2 p.m. at Joe Hicks Memorial Field. Should the game get rained out, a doubleheader would be tentatively scheduled for Saturday at Orange Coast.