With calm, cool and comradery, the Warriors brought laser focus into their noon game against the Compton College Tartars on Saturday, April 5 at Warrior Field.
Infielder Lucas Bonham scored the first home run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Throughout the game, Bonham went three-for-four with a double, home run, four RBIs and three runs scored.
He extended his hitting streak to five games and his multi-hit game streak to four straight to help the Warriors complete the sweep.
After numerous bats and hits, the Warriors won 14-1.
Coach Kyle Mora mainly focused on pitching emphasis for the Warriors, and highlighted the two players’ performances.
“Lucas Bonham, he’s been swinging it well,” he said. “He’s taking the leadership role and Slater Nunez had a good day for us today, he’s played short every inning, he’s pitched a lot, he’s closed for us a lot, so he was good on both sides of the ball game today.”
Mora said Bonham has been a staple for them all year. He has been their hit second or third most of the year, which was the same situation for them last year.
The game skyrocketed during the sixth inning, when right-handed pitcher Cameron O’Niel led off the frame with a strikeout.
The ball bounced off the dirt and Compton College Catcher Kurtis Song spiked the throw to first, allowing O’Neil to reach.
The ball rolled to the right-field wall allowing O’Niel to get to third base and the game commenced from there.
After a strong hit from Bonham, outfielders Ryan Matsukawa and Daniel Craig scored, while Bonham made it to second base.
The bottom of sixth inning ended with the Warriors having six runs, giving ECC a 11-1 lead and they never looked back.
On the mound, right-handed pitcher Luke Steward was victorious as he went six innings and allowed one run on four hits.
He walked four and struck out six to pick up his fifth win of the season.
During the bottom of the eighth inning, first baseman Gil Solis homered to left center, leading to an RBI, and scoring a point.
Then catcher Nate Torres tripled to center field, leading to two RBIs, and O’Niel and infielder Mason Martinez scored.
This solidified the Warriors win against the Compton College Tartars.
The Warriors have a recent winning streak against the Compton College Tartars, where they won by a 22-3 match on Tuesday, April 1, and by a 17-10 match on Thursday, April 3.
Tartars coach Shannon Williams said the results are not what they wanted this year, but his team played strong in the first five innings.
“Baseball is a game where you have to [keep going], … it’s life lessons,” Williams said. “El Camino did really good; coach Grant [is] doing a great job over there, so [we] just wanna build a culture like they have over there at El Camino.”
There is a process to overcome difficulty for the Tartars.
“Game was alright; I saw the ball a lot better,” Tartars designated hitter Zaid Humphrey said. “So I find that in times of difficulty we do really well, we ahead, and we start getting base hits, we start chaining them together, other than that we tend to suffer on a lot of the other bases, but we just need to continue swinging the bat.”
Bonham has a lot to be proud of in this game.
“I was just trying to go a yard honestly; I was trying to hit a homerun and it happened,” Bonham said. “It’s what I was expecting. I think you know we won the first two games and we had to come out and win a third and that’s what we did.”
Eyes are on the prize of the playoff season for the Warriors.
“If we win the series against Pasadena and the next one, it puts us in a good position for playoffs,” Bonham said.
Based on the spring 2025 poll from the California Community College Athletic Association, El Camino College is ranked 36th in the state for their strength and performance.
The Warriors improve to (21-11) and will return to action on Tuesday, April 8 for another pivotal SCC series against the Pasadena City College Lancers (18-10) on the road.
