Earlier this week, the San Pedro High baseball team had to suffer the sight of seeing Harbor Area neighbor Banning of Wilmington getting the best of them in an 4-3, eight-inning Marine League opener.

The rematch ended up with the same score, with the same longevity... but on the reverse side of things.

A change of scenery proved to be a change of celebration, as senior outfielder David Olivieri drilled a single off the right-center field net to drive home senior shortstop Louie Canjura with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning for San Pedro to prevail, 4-3 over Banning on Thursday.

With another great battle between the two, San Pedro (10-5, 1-1) matched last year's win total in the first month of the 2015 season.

With the score tied going into the bottom of the eighth, Canjura stroked a leadoff double to left field, then Banning (5-6, 1-1) chose to intentionally walk senior Cheech Pacheco. Junior catcher J.J. Duarte moved both of them up a base with a sacrifice bunt, and then Banning intentionally walked sophomore third baseman Isaiah Bumgarner to load the bases.

Next up came Olivieri, who took the first pitch from Banning sophomore relief pitcher Gabe Ruiz for a strike. Then Oliveri unloaded on the next pitch that was belt-high over the plate, Canjura would score a third time in the game for the win, then the Pirates dogpiled on top of Olivieri to celebrate the victory.

It was a back-and-forth encounter between San Pedro and Banning, with neither team giving ground.

Canjura, who went 3-for-4 with a double and three runs scored, hit a one-out single in the bottom of the first inning, then would later score on Duarte's sacrifice fly for a 1-0 San Pedro lead. Banning would answer with two runs in the top of the third on senior right fielder T.J. Louviere, but lightning would strike from an unlikely moment in the bottom of the third.

Sophomore second baseman Mikey Hernandez Jr. would stroke a shot to right field, which dropped over the diving Louviere's head six inches fair, and it rolled all the way to the fence. Hernandez Jr. would quickly sprint to third but would ignore the stop sign from San Pedro coach Steve Tedesco, hesitated a bit to read the play, then took off and jetted for home plate... sliding in safely head-first to tie the game at 2-2.

Hernandez Jr.'s amazing inside-the-park home run would instantly galvanize the Pirates, who would eventually go up 3-2 later in the inning on Pacheco's RBI-single.

However, the Pilots would tie it again at 3-3 in the top of the seventh as senior first baseman Anthony Vela's single was misplayed by Oliveri in left field with two outs. On that at-bat, Vela was facing a full count before he singled off Pacheco, who pitched seven innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits, striking out six for San Pedro. Pacheco also went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

Senior pitcher Nacio Zuniga earned the win for San Pedro pitching a scoreless eighth inning, walking one and striking out one.