Freshman left fielder Alex Turner stepped up the batter’s box, in the bottom of the 7th, with a chance to give the Warriors baseball team the lead in a 1-1 game against El Camino Compton College.

With a runner on third, and no outs, Turner hit a line drive single into center field, which gave the Warriors the go ahead run to pull out a 3-1 victory over the Tartars.

“I had two strikes on me, and he threw a fastball low and in,” Turner said. “It was a nice pitch, one that I liked, and I just drove it up the middle to get that run in.”

The Warriors have swept the series against the Tartars this season, including a dramatic walk-off by freshman shortstop Fred Smith in the opening game. There always seems to be an extra sense of competitiveness between these two teams.

“Both of us have El Camino in front of our names,” freshman center fielder Keyon Allen said.

“We know some of the people on that team, so we take it as bragging rights.” The Warriors bats stayed hot, as the team racked up 12 hits and is now slugging .333 with a .372 OBP, but one lingering issue is leaving men on base.

The Tartars held a one-run lead through eight innings, despite being outhit, but luckily sophomore starting pitcher Andy Burschinger was able to come back from one of his worst outings to pitch eight excellent innings. Burschinger only allowed four hits, and no earned runs.

“I wanted to come out and prove to my teammates that I can bounce back from a rough start,” Burschinger said. “Just being mentally tough and keeping things simple.”

The Warriors would tie the game up in the bottom of the 7th, after sophomore second baseman Joseph Cortez scored on a wild pitch.

Another insurance run would be added in the bottom of the 8th, thanks to a single deep center by Allen to give the Warriors a 3-1 lead.

“It’s not the situation you want to be in (down), but there is a confidence that we’ll be able to score when we need to,” coach Nate Fernley said.

The Warriors are now 17-8 overall, 9-3 in conference and have won eight of their last ten to move into a first-place tie with East L.A. College.

The upcoming series with East L.A. will be crucial in deciding who wins the conference championship. The first two games will alternate in location, before wrapping up this Saturday at East L.A.

“We want to take two out of three but our mindset is to sweep them,” Cortez said. “We’ll do whatever we can to win conference.”