Irvine Valley's baseball team bounced back from a tough 6-1 loss in its 2018 season opener on Friday with a win on Saturday.
The Lasers evened their three-game series with Long Beach City, which was ranked No. 5 in Southern California to star the season, with a 6-3 victory on the road.
Irvine Valley got solid pitching on Saturday with 5.2 strong innings to start from freshman Nick Janowicz and then three scoreless innings from freshman Noah Bradford.
IVC scored two runs in the top of the first to take the lead for good.
Freshman second baseman David Rojas reached on an error to bring in freshman outfielder Ben McConnell with the first run of the game.
And then sophomore catcher Ryan Gaynor hit a sacrifice fly to score Rojas and make it a 2-0 game.
Long Beach City answered with a run in the bottom of the third.
But Irvine Valley game back with two runs in the top of the sixth inning to take control. Sophomore designated hitter Zack Stack singled to score sophomore outfielder Wyatt McGinnis and IVC scored another run on an error in the sixth.
The Lasers put the game away with a run in the top of the eighth on an RBI double by Stack and then another run in the top of the ninth when McConnell scored on a passed ball.
The 6-9 Janowicz went 5.2 innings and gave up two runs on two hits and five walks with four strikeouts.
Bradford closed the game with three innings, allowing just two hits and one walk with two strikeouts.
Stack went 2 for 4 with a double, one runs scored and two RBI. McGinnis also had two hits and scored a run for IVC. McConnell continued his hot start to the season by going 1 for 3 with a double and two runs scored.
Rojas and Gaynor also drove in runs for Irvine Valley.
Irvine Valley hosts Long Beach City in the deciding game of the series on Tuesday at 2 p.m.