The home opener for the San Diego City College baseball team was going as well as it possibly could for the Knights – until the ninth inning.
The Knights were up 6-0 heading into the final inning on Thursday, Jan. 30, appearing to have a firm grip on its first win of the season.
College of the Desert had other plans.
The Knights ended up defeating the Roadrunners, 6-4, at Morley Field despite a rocky ninth inning.
“That was an interesting way to win,” City College head coach Chris Brown said. “I feel good. It’s always hard to get that first one.”
The Roadrunners (1-1) took advantage of two singles and a series of walks, including two hit-by-pitches from Knights’ reliever Nico Lopez, to mount a furious comeback.
But Lopez bore down, and with the bases loaded and two outs, he was able to get a flyout to end the game.
The win evened City’s record to 1-1 on Thursday after it fell to the Roadrunners, 10-9, in extra innings in the Knights’ season opener in Palm Desert two days earlier.
The Knights (1-2) then lost, 6-1, on Saturday, Feb. 1 against Mt. San Jacinto at Morley Field.
In Thursday’s game, City’s starting pitcher Dusty Burns threw 6 ⅓ shutout innings, which Brown said was exactly what the team needed.
“(Burns) did a great job keeping them off balance and the defense made some great plays behind him early on that really helped things out,” Brown said.

The game was scoreless until the Knights knocked in three runs in the fourth inning, including a solo home run blast to right field from sophomore right fielder Orlando Arellano.
City’s offense was led by freshman designated hitter Gavin Daley, who had three hits and scored two runs scored. Freshman center fielder Aaron Herrera added two hits and a run scored.
The Knights have an almost entirely new roster this year. Last year’s team had six all-PCAC players, including pitchers Avery Lane and Bobby Perebzak, who helped lead City to its first playoff berth since 2010.
Both Lane and Perebzak are now pitching for Division I schools Loyola Marymount University and University of Hawaii, respectively.
After 23 years at the helm for City, Brown said he is used to reassembling a roster and remained positive about the rebuild.
“That’s the two-year college game,” Brown said. “It’s tough losing (Lane and Perebzak). You got a guy that leads the state in strikeouts and then a horse like Lane, they’re hard to replace.
“But that gives an opportunity to a young guy to come in and step up and start earning the same recognition that they did.”
City returns to action at La Harbor on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 1 p.m. before playing at home at Morley Field on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. against Golden West College.