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Sophomore second baseman
Dan Luyben
(Lakewood HS)
tripled home freshman
Jose
Serrano (Artesia
HS) with two outs in the top of the
ninth inning to propel the Cerritos College baseball
team to a 7-6 South Coast Conference win over Mt.
San Antonio College on Thursday. The win, coupled
with a 5-4 Los Angeles Harbor College win over East
Los Angeles College, keeps the Falcons in a second
place tie with the Seahawks with just one regular
season game remaining. The Falcons and Mounties
(22-19-1, 14-9) will square off on Friday at 2:30
p.m. at Kincaid Field. A win by Cerritos would
assure them of a playoff spot, while a loss (couple
with an LA Harbor win) would put the team on the
bubble and have to sweat it out until the seeding
meeting Monday night.
Through the first four innings,
the game teetered back and forth, with each team
taking short-lived leads. The Falcons struck first
with a run in the top of the first inning, as
sophomore outfielder
Phil
Van Doren (La
Mirada HS) drove home freshman
outfielder
Andrew
Baslow (Chatsworth
HS) from third base after he led the
game off with a triple. However, Mt. SAC scored
three in the bottom of the first before Cerritos
responded with three more in the second inning.
Once again, with two outs,
sophomore first baseman
Ryan
Montgomery (La
Mirada HS) doubled and came home on a
double by sophomore designated hitter
Ryan
Bateman (Santa
Fe HS). After freshman outfielder
Jake Moore
(Palisade, CO
HS) walked, Baslow drove in the other
two runs with a double. The Falcons led 5-3 and a
run-scoring single by freshman catcher
Phil
Rodriguez (Norwalk
HS), but the Mounties struck right back
with two in the bottom of the fourth inning an then
scored the go-ahead run in the sixth, which chased
sophomore starter
Sheldon
McGregor (La
Mirada HS). Freshman relief pitcher
David
Gurbach (Aliso
Niguel HS) came on in relief and walked
the two men he faced, including a walk that forced
in the go-ahead run. Sophomore
Brad Schwarzenbach (St.
John Bosco HS) came on and allowed just
one hit, while striking out four in the final 3 1/3
innings, which earned him the win.
Bateman led the team with three
hits and a walk, while Baslow (2-for-5, 2 RBI),
Luyben (2-for-5, RBI) and Rodriguez (4-for-4, RBI)
also had good days at the plate. The Falcons will
have to play Friday's game without the services of
shortstop
Scott
Patynik (Whittier
HS), who was ejected from the game in
the seventh inning. Serrano moved from third base to
shortstop, while Bateman took over the duties at
third base in the game. |
