Zach Ellsworth’s speed wasn’t enough to preserve his team’s lead, but it was enough to be the walk off run.

Los Medanos College beat Mendocino 4-3 March 21, with Milan Mijanovic hitting the walk off RBI in the tenth inning.

Ellsworth has made the stretch from second base to home plate often this season and he had to make it again against Mendocino. Mijanovic faced off against Eagles’s pitcher Gary Grosjean carrying two outs on his back but walked it off with a hit towards centerfield that ended the game.

“It feels great when everyone’s counting on you and you come through, it feels good,” said  Mijanovic, who currently holds a .320 hitting average. “Our pitchers made pitches, our fielders made plays, it’s just what we do.”

As for Ellsworth, he has shown how useful his speed can be whenever he gets himself on base and this time was no different. He came in the final inning and managed to get on base in his only at bat.

“It felt great [to score]. I know how to do my job for the team. I felt like we had a really good chance if we utilized our hitters after I got the job done [got on base]. So I knew as soon as I was on second if Milan came up and hit a ball on the ground hard past the infielders I knew we were gonna win.” said Ellsworth. “I knew I was coming up to bat, leading it off so I knew I was gonna be one of the guys to get the job done.”

The top of the first inning ended how many have this season for the Mustangs, being down from the start. Morgan Edward had runner on third when he stepped up to home plate. He hit for a single, allowing Malik Bond to score. Edward then took off to the races, touching all the way to home plate from first following teammate Joe Brazil’s double. Being down after the first inning was not an unfamiliar spot for the Stangs’ to start from but like other times, they knew how to grind through the 2-0 deficit.

LMC got to work from the get-go.

The first run kicked off with Jesus Hernandez getting a base hit placing him on first. He advanced to second and stole third, setting Justin Roper up perfectly to record an RBI and that is just what Roper did. Roper tripled, hitting a ground ball towards first base, driving in Jesus Hernandez’s run.

Los Medanos led 3-2 until the ninth. It looked like the Stangs’ were going to end take home the victory.

Edward hit a shallow ball towards left field out of outfielder Ellsworth’s reach to drive in Hader Keller from second, that was Edward’s second RBI of the game.

Scott Meylan came in relief for Joshua Cerejo midway through the eighth. In the 2.2 innings of work he put in, Meylan struck out four batters. Two of those ended the ninth inning.

“You have to find a lot of different ways to win. Some days you have to score a ton and blow somebody out, sometimes it has to be tight the whole game and you finish,” said head coach Anthony D’Albora. “I think the challenge is to execute as sharp as we can from the first pitch to the last. Just work hard to execute as best as we can.”