El Camino College Warriors defeat Long Beach City College Vikings, 16-12, in consecutive series on Wednesday, April 17.

The baseball game began at 2 p.m. at Warrior Field on a cloudy afternoon.

The Vikings scored 2-0 minutes after the start of the game, giving them an early lead.

The teams tied 2-2, with no runs at the top of the second inning, but the Warriors responded back and tied the game in the bottom of the first.

In the bottom of the third inning, the Warriors came out hot with three hits and took an 8-2 lead, with outfielder Jack Nammack launching his second blast of the season.

Nammack was satisfied with his performance and the fulfillment of his individual goals for the season.

He said he got away from himself last year and felt he needed to focus on his swing.

“I needed to get back to what I do best, which is just, stay low and hard, to the middle of the field and I think that so far has been successful for me,” Nammack said.

The crowd remained engaged for the duration of the game while the Warriors led 13-2.

The Vikings continued to cheer on their teammates, trying to rally them through.

During the top of the eighth and ninth inning, the Vikings scored three runs in both innings clawing their way back.

“Could’ve been better for us, but we almost came back at the end, so yeah, pretty happy about that,” Vikings first baseman Kyler Gloth said.

Vikings coach Casey Crook said his team had a good overall performance.

“We did score a bunch of runs at the end, so that was good to see,” Crook said.

Crook also talked about their playoff hopes and what they have to do going forward.

“We’re really up against it now. We might have to win the rest of our games to get in the playoffs, so we’re gonna have to play better than we did today,” he said.

Vikings catcher Alex Yin said he looks forward to the last stretch of the season and making a late push.

“Just finishing the season strong and being the best teammate I can be,” Yin said.

The Warriors hung on to secure the win 16-12, inching closer to a playoff birth.

“Today I was most proud of the way we scored some runs. Our offense came to play today. We needed all of them. You can see at the end it got close, so I’m proud of the guys showing up today,” Warriors coach Grant Palmer said.

The team is looking forward to a playoff push with only a few games left.

“I love these guys. We’ve been together since September. We got one more week after next week, and then playoffs. We’re having fun,” Palmer said.

Various Warriors players, including Nammack and Gil Solis, appreciated the win, but also said there’s room for improvement.

“Good team win. We needed this one. [It was] really important,” outfielder Ryan Matsukawa said.

Matsukawa said he anticipates the teams in the following games to be tough opponents.

“They’re probably going to come out a lot with fire, so we got to make sure we stay competitive and don’t let off the gas pedal,” Matsukawa said.

The Warriors move to (26-12) on the season, while the Vikings fall to (19-18). With only two games left, the Warriors will be on the road for the last two games. They will face the Chaffey College Panthers (28-8), who are the back-to-back-to-back Inland Empire Athletic Conference Champions, on Wednesday April, 23, at 2 p.m.

Editor’s note: Captions were updated and tags were added Thursday, April 24.