The Los Medanos College baseball team hosted Diablo Valley College in a non-conference 7-3 win Tuesday, Feb. 25. The Mustangs battled back after trailing to the Vikings twice throughout the duration of the game, which was a total of three hours and ten minutes.  

The win was part of a home-and-away series for the Mustangs who visited the Vikings Thursday, Feb. 27. 

The Vikings took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. During the bottom of the first inning, the Mustangs were not able to score, having Seth Salter and Milan Mijanovic tagged out upon reaching first base, and Neko Capsaliaris getting stuck out. 

In the second inning, LMC took a 2-1 lead over DVC. Sophomore Jake Guzman scored the first run while freshmen Cooper Gardner put the Mustangs in the lead. LMC was able to get the bases loaded between scoring, which led to Gardner being able to score. 

During the third inning, DVC regained the lead, scoring twice to a 2-3 score. LMC struggled to force strikeouts from the Vikings, and made a pitcher change; left-hand pitcher Cooper Gardner replaced replaced right-hand pitcher Jacob Jackson. 

Throughout the third inning, the Mustangs were on the bitter end of decisions made by the umpire, “I cannot give [the team] more credit for being tough enough to not worry about that, at the end of the day, we can’t control any of [the decisions from the umpire],” said head coach Anthony D’Albora. 

It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth inning where the scoring came back. The Mustangs scored three runs to leap over the Vikings 6-3. Stefan Raeth equalized the game after Seth Salter’s hit went over the right outfielder Viking. Gardner scored his second run of the game, putting the Mustangs in the lead, while Andrew Evans and Salter extended the lead. 

During the top of the seventh inning, Salter made a deep run deep from outfield to make a catch, denying the Vikings from a possible comeback. 

In the seventh inning, Sophomore Jake Guzman scored the lone run, stealing second base, third base and home plate. The game ended after the top of the ninth inning, since the mustangs had a 4-run lead.

“We are fortunate that we are playing very well right now, and that’s only a byproduct of us working hard to win the of baseball, and when the game is over we can take a break, and say ‘We beat DVC, and that’s awesome,’” said D’Albora. 

The Mustangs begin Bay Valley Conference (BVC) play Tuesday, Mar. 10, at home against Contra Costa College. For more information on the baseball team, visit https://www.losmedanos.edu/baseball/index.aspx.