The Cerritos College baseball team had to go to the well many times in their South Coast Conference baseball game at Long Beach City College on Saturday afternoon. After falling behind 3-0, they scored three times in the top of the sixth inning. They also worked out of defensive jams in the ninth, 11th and 12 innings and appeared to have escaped again in the 13th inning. But a throwing error by freshman second baseman Guillermo Garcia (Artesia HS) allowed the winning run to score in the bottom of the 13th inning and the Falcons were defeated, 4-3. With the loss, their fourth in the last five games, Cerritos is now 31-11 overall and 17-6 in conference play, as they close out the regular season at home against the Vikings at 2:30 p.m. LBCC, who will more than likely miss the playoffs, are 22-19 overall and in fifth place with a 12-9 mark.
In the 13th inning, Curtis Thompson singled up the middle with one out off Falcon close Miguel Flores (St. John Bosco HS). After Sean Plummer grounded back to Flores for the second out, Thompson moved to second base. The next batter, Armando Arzate, grounded a ball that looked to be going into the outfield, but Garcia dove to his glove side to make a nice stop. He had Arzate beat at first base for the potential third out of the inning, but his throw pulled freshman first baseman Trever Blood (La Mirada HS) off the bag, and Thompson, who didn't stop running, came home to score the winning run without a throw to the plate.
After falling behind 3-0 after the first inning, Cerritos scored all of their runs in the top of the sixth inning. Sophomore outfielder Nick Armstrong (Marina HS) led off with a single, while Blood singled to right field with one out. Sophomore catcher Phil Rodriguez (Norwalk HS) drove in the first run of the inning with a base hit, while freshman shortstop Jerry Pena (Los Altos HS) walked to load the bases. Sophomore Andrew Baslow (Chatsworth HS) then singled to drive in another run before freshman outfielder Anthony Topete (Norwalk HS) brought home the third run with a sacrifice fly.
The Falcon pitchers worked out of numerous jams throughout the day, with sophomore starting pitcher Kevin Camacho (Santa Fe HS) going 8 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on eight hits with five strikeouts. He left the bases loaded in the fifth inning when he struck out Sean Beckley for the third out, while the Vikings left a runner at third base in the eighth inning. Sophomore Robbie Dominguez (El Rancho HS) came on in the ninth inning with a runner at second base and one out and quickly got the final two outs. In the 11th inning, LBCC had runners at first and second with no outs and looked to win the game when they loaded the bases with one out. But Dominguez was able to get Arzate to hit into a double play to end the inning. It was also a close 12th inning after Long Beach City again had runners at first and second with no outs against Flores. A couple of ground balls put runners at first and third with two outs, but Beckley could not come up with a hit and the inning ended.
At the plate, Cerritos had a chance in the 10th inning when sophomore infielder Jose Serrano (Artesia HS) walked and Blood singled with one out. After Rodriguez flied out, Pena drew a walk to load the bases, but Baslow went down swinging to end the threat. Armstrong opened the 12th inning by reaching base when Kevin Castillo dropped the throw to first base. After Serrano sacrificed Armstrong to second base, Blood was intentionally walked. But both Rodriguez and Pena flied out to center field for the final outs.
On the day, Blood went 4-for-5 with a run scored, while Rodriguez and Baslow each collected two hits.
|
