Juan Carlos Lopez singled home Nick Akey with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the Vintage Crushers beat Benicia High’s varsity baseball team on Friday, 3-2.

It was the second straight extra-inning loss for the Panthers (2-3), who have dropped three straight overall.

“These losses have been character builders and hard fought,” said Benicia manager Jim Bowles. “Eventually we’re going to see a normal high school pitcher.”

Benicia’s hitters had to deal with Vintage senior Aaron Shortridge, who has committed to pitch for Cal-Berkeley after graduation. Shortridge scattered five hits over seven innings and struck out 14 but didn’t get a decision.

“We faced another amazing pitcher who had a hammer breaking ball,” Bowles said. “We struck out a lot but we also had some good at-bats. It took everything they had to beat us.”

Taylor Greene and Evan Phillips pitched well for Benicia but didn’t get much run support. Back-to-back two-out doubles by Caleb Van Blake and Xian Covington-Hunt gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Vintage tied it up with an unearned run in the fourth, but Covington-Hunt put Benicia back in front with an RBI single that scored Josiah Peterson.

Tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth, Vintage (5-0) elected to intentionally walk Covington-Hunt to load the bases with two outs, and Akey – who eventually got the win – struck out the next hitter to end the threat.

“Our pitching has been absolutely dominant,” Bowles said. “Once we get going on offense, we’re going to be tough. We’re on the verge of rattling off a pretty big winning streak.”

Benicia plays at Rodriguez on Monday.

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