(Walnut) – By John M. Sherrard – Trailing by three runs in the sixth inning, the Mounties came back to tie the top team in the South Coast Conference in the eighth inning, only to fall by a run, 5-4, in the middle game of the three-game series with Long Beach City College Thursday night at Mazmanian Field.

Mt. SAC (9-14, 2-6), trailing 4-1, scored twice in the seventh inning and once in the eighth to tie the game at 4-4, only to see the Vikings (16-7) go ahead in the ninth and hold on for their eighth win against no losses in conference.

Sophomore second baseman Dallas Reed (Vista Murrieta HS) hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring sophomore right fielder D.J. Daniels (Bishop Amat HS) and freshman left fielder Jimmy Frazier (West Covina HS) scored on a passed ball, to trail, 4-3, in the seventh inning.

After sophomore first baseman Kory Brown (Charter Oak HS) singled in the eighth, he eventually came around for the tying score.

Daniels led the Mounties in the game going 3 for 3, while sophomore center fielder Anthony Seminaris (Ayala HS) and sophomore third baseman Matt Majher (Corona HS) collected two hits each.

Freshman right hander Logan Muratalla (San Dimas HS) started the game going seven innings and struck out seven Long Beach batters. Reliever David Valdivia (Claremont HS) suffered the loss as he surrendered the go ahead run in the ninth.

Mt. SAC will conclude the series on Saturday at LBCC at noon.