Sophomore first baseman Dylan Hatch came through in the clutch once again with a 2 RBI home run in top of the 9th to give the El Camino baseball team a much needed 5-3 victory over L.A. Harbor College this past Saturday.

There will be no shortage of drama heading into the final week of the season as three teams are all tied for second place in the South Coast Conference behind Cerritos College.

“We don’t really think about next week until this week is over,” coach Nate Fernley said. “It’s mission accomplished so we’ll sit back, enjoy it and get ready for next week.”

The Warriors (21-11) won the series against the Seahawks (15-17) two games to one and are now 12-6 in the SCC along with East L.A. College and Long Beach City College.

Cerritos College sits atop the conferece at 13-5 but the Warriors own the head-to-head tiebreaker in the event of a tie due to a series victory over Cerritos earlier this season.

“Doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” Hatch said. “We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing and right now we’re heading in the right direction.”

Hatch got the Warriors on the board first with a 2 RBI single in the top of the 3rd after the Seahawks loaded the bases to give the team a 2-0 lead.

Although the Seahawks would quickly respond in the bottom of the 4th with two runs of their own due to untimely errors by the Warriors to tie the game.

Sophomore starting pitcher Andy Burschinger improved his record to 6-2 after lasting seven innings against the Seahawks while only allowing six hits and one earned run.

Meanwhile freshman relief pitcher Josh Norwood picked up his eighth win of the season while only allowing two hits and one earned run.

“Last couple outings have been kind of rough,” Norwood said. “I made them a little more exiting than normal so today I just went out with the mentality to get it over the plate hard and in the zone.”

Sophomore third baseman Jack Canady would give the Warriors 3-2 lead in the top of the 8th with a solo home run. Hatch’s homer in the following inning would give seal up the game for the Warriors with a 5-3 lead.

The Warriors will now play a two-game series against Antelope Valley College before closing out the season with a three-game series against Long Beach City College.

The final week of the season will certainly be close in the standings and at this point anyone can come out on top of the conference.

“We’re playing well at the right time,” Burschinger said. “We’re hot right now and we just want to keep it going.”