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| 04.26.07 - After a difficult start, John Ortega and Cerritos were able to overcome East LA, 4-1 Thursday afternoon. |
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After falling out of first place in the South Coast Conference for the first time all season on Tuesday when they lost to East Los Angeles College, the Cerritos College baseball team was in dire need of a win. The Falcons broke a 1-1 tie with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and went on to defeat the Huskies, 4-1 on Thursday afternoon at Kincaid Field. The win puts Cerritos at 31-10 overall and keeps them in at least second place with a 17-5 SCC record, while ELAC dropped to 28-12 overall and 14-6 in the SCC. The Falcons will now play their final home-and-home series of the regular season and travel to face cross-town rival Long Beach City at noon on Saturday. The two teams will then play at Kincaid Field on Tuesday, while the Falcons have a bye in the last round.
Things looked troublesome for Cerritos in the early going, as freshman starting pitcher John Ortega (Downey HS) had difficulty finding the strike zone. In the first four innings, he walked four batters and hit one more. Ortega was able to make the Huskies strand runners on first and second base in the top of the first inning and then allowed his lone run in the top of the second. In the fourth, ELAC had the bases loaded with one out, but a pop-up bunt attempt by Jordan Larson turned into a double play, as Ortega threw to freshman third baseman Miguel Flores (St. John Bosco HS) to cut down Candy Flores for the third out.
After weathering those storms, Cerritos was finally able to string some hits together. In the bottom of the fourth inning, sophomore second baseman Jose Serrano (Artesia HS) and freshman shortstop Jerry Pena (Los Altos HS) led off with back-to-back singles. Sophomore catcher Phil Rodriguez (Norwalk HS) then laid down a bunt to move the runners over, but the throw to third base was late, which loaded the bases for the Falcons. The game was tied 1-1 after a sacrifice fly by freshman first baseman Trever Blood (La Mirada HS). In the breakout sixth inning, Pena opened by drawing a walk. Once again, Rodriguez laid down a bunt to advance the runner, but Huskie third baseman Scott Stroud threw the ball away. Blood then hit into a fielder's choice, which cut down Pena at third base.
Sophomore Andrew Baslow (Chatsworth HS), who was serving as the designated hitter, then singled to load the bases against starter Joseph Cruz, who was then removed in favor of Jake Rodriguez. Freshman outfielder Anthony Topete (Norwalk HS) and sophomore outfielder Jake Moore (Palisade, CO HS) responded with soft fly balls into right field that fell in for hits, each scoring a run for the Falcons. Flores followed with a base hit to center field and that was all the offense Ortega would need.
After the fourth inning, Ortega surrendered three hits before coming out for Flores, who pitched the final two innings to earn his ninth save of the year. For his efforts, Ortega improved his record to 8-2, as he allowed one run on six hits and struck out three. Flores was helped along in his two innings by the vast space in the outfield, as two deep fly balls, that would have been home runs on other parks, were caught for outs. The final out of the game was on a beautiful diving stop by Serrano, who moved to third base when Flores came in to pitch. He dove to his backhand and came up throwing to cut down Jack Hall for the final out.
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