Salcedo's 7 RBI Day Helps Baseball Sweep LA Harbor

Joaquin Salcedo hammered a 3-run homer and a pair of 2-run doubles for seven RBI as the Pasadena City College baseball team completed a 3-game sweep of its South Coast Conference series over LA Harbor on Friday, 13-5. The game was played at Brookside Park's Jackie Robinson Field. 

The Lancers (18-15 overall) improved to 11-7 in SCC play in fourth place in the league. 

Salcedo, a sophomore utility player, slugged a drive over the centerfield fence in the first inning. After Harbor took a 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the seventh, he muscled a high-hopper over the head of the Seahawks third baseman for a double that gave the Lancers the lead for good at 6-5. 

Pasadena scored 10 unanswered runs including Salcedo's drive to left center that knocked in two more runs in the eighth. He finished 3-for-5 on a day that the Lancers collected only seven hits. Second baseman Logan Parker went 2-for-5 with a double and a 2-RBI single to center in the seventh. 

Both shortstop Omar Cisneros (three walks) and third baseman Chris Torres were each 1-for-2 (two walks and hit by a pitch once) with three runs scored. 

Once again, PCC relied on solid relief pitching, this time by Sergio Robles, who hurled three innings of 3-hit ball, allowing no walks for his third victory. He relieved starter Jonathan Bracamonte (six innings, three earned runs, one walk).

On Thursday evening at Harbor's temporary home field at Banning High, PCC roped 13 hits in an 11-5 win over the Seahawks.

Leading the way was rightrfielder Luke Bauer, who was 4-for-5, including a double and four RBI, and Torres, who went 3-for-6 and started the Lancers offense with a 2-run triple in the first inning. Cisneros went 2-for-4 and also reached on a pair of walks. First baseman Joey Ramos scored three runs and added a double. 

Reliever Alex Myers threw 1.2 innings and upped his record to 3-1 while closer Matt Garcia was outstanding on three innings of 2-hit scoreless ball with three strikeouts for the save. 

"The whole series we got lifted by our relievers, starting with Alex Valencia (5.2 innings, winner in Tuesday's opener), then Alex Myers, and finally our sophomore duo of Matt and Sergio," said PCC head coach Pat McGee. "We really didn't hit that well in the two home games, but we found other ways to score. Today, Joaquin came up big for us and we needed all of his clutch extra-base hits. If we have any chance of making it to the postseason, this was a big step in that direction."

PCC collected nine total hits, but 20 runs in the two games at JR Field. 

Torres, a freshman, upped his team-leading batting average to .342 and his .502 on-base percentage is second among all SCC batters. On the mound, Robles has been an impressive all season as he has four saves to go with a 3-1 record and a 3.62 ERA in 32.1 innings. 

PCC plays Rio Hondo next week in another 3-game, SCC series, beginning with a Tuesday, April 14 road contest at 2 p.m.