The Warriors baseball team played the Imperial Valley Arabs Thursday at the El Camino baseball field, winning 5-3.

The game remained close from beginning to end. The Warriors started off hot with a three-run first inning and a two-run second inning. The Arabs followed up with one run in the top of the second inning and two runs in the bottom of the third inning.

The hitting was strong for both teams throughout the day. The Warriors recorded a total of 10 hits and the Arabs recorded a total of seven hits.

The biggest hitters on the day for the Warriors were sophomores shortstop Fred Smith, who recorded two hits, and left-fielder Alex Turner, who recorded a perfect three-for-three against Imperial Valley.

The Warriors’ first inning was a strong one. It started with sophomore Fred Smith hitting a single, followed by a stolen base at second. He was then brought in for the run when freshman first-baseman Jake Sahagian hit a single. The next play walked sophomore catcher Joey Notch, which would set up the next two runs.

After a wild pitch that helped Notch advance to second and Sahagian advance to third base, sophomore Alex Turner hit a single that would bring in Notch and Sahagian for an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

The Warriors would follow it up with a strong two-run second inning. Freshman third-baseman Tyler Martizia hit a single, followed by a fielder’s choice that helped him advance to second.

The next play saw freshman designated hitter Zach Decuitus get a walk, putting two runners on base. Martizia and Decuitus were brought in when sophomore right-fielder Kevin Lopez hit a double, earning him two RBI’s for the day.

The Warriors bullpen proved to be one of the team’s biggest assets against Imperial Valley. After five strong innings of pitching, sophomore Ulices Moreno was relieved by freshman pitcher Sebastian Sanchez, who pitched an impressive three more innings before being relieved by sophomore Josh Norwood.

Moreno and Sanchez pitched a tough eight innings for Imperial Valley, recording a combined seven strikeouts.

Coach Nate Fernley felt that the bullpen did a great job in coming in and relieving Moreno, freshman pitcher Sebastian Sanchez really standing out in his three innings pitched. Fernley also said that sophomore Alex Turner did a great job at the plate. He feels his team still needs to work on the base-running.

“We didn’t really run the bases well,” Fernley explained. “We had bases loaded, but we kept running into outs, so we just really need to work on that.”

Sophomore right-fielder Kevin Lopez felt that his team played really good defense against Imperial Valley, and what they really need to work on is keeping their energy up, rather than allowing it to die off like it did. He felt the major turning point in the game was when Sebastian Sanchez took the mound against Imperial Valley.

“When Sebastian came in, he pitched really well, and he just didn’t let up,” Lopez said.

Sophomore left-fielder Alex Turner felt that his team really did well in hitting the ball, as well as not giving up any errors defensively. He felt that the major turning point in the game came in the first inning when his team scored three runs.

“We really should’ve gotten at least eight or nine runs today with all the runners we had on base,” Turner explains, “but a win is a win, so we can’t complain.”

The Warriors are currently on a six-game win streak, and look to continue it when they play at Santa Ana on Feb. 24.