From the outset of their
non-conference game
against Fullerton
College at Kincaid Field
in Saturday afternoon,
the Cerritos College
baseball team found
themselves in a hole
they spent the entire
afternoon trying to
escape from. After a
shaky first two innings
on the mound, the Falcon
pitchers had allowed
four runs, three hits,
five walks, a hit batter
and an error, which
resulted in a 4-0
deficit. It would be too
much to recover from, as
Cerritos dropped an 8-2
decision to the Hornets
and saw their record
drop to 10-3 overall,
while Fullerton improved
to 10-3. It also marked
the first home loss of
the season for the
Falcons, who won their
first seven. The team
will now travel to
Saddleback College on
Monday afternoon to play
a game that was rained
out last Sunday.
Freshman starting
pitcher
George Sanchez
(Gahr HS)
barely made it out of
the first inning after
allowing two runs, but
was unable to start the
second inning, due to an
injury that forced him
out of the game.
Sophomore
David Gurbach
(Aliso Niguel HS),
who is just returning
from an injury, also
struggled, and
surrendered two runs
(one earned), two hits
and three walks and
faced just two batters
in the third inning
after pitching the
second inning. It wasn't
until sophomore
Ryan Chiazza
(California HS)
came in that the game
settled down for a
while, until he tired in
the eighth inning. He
did allow two runs in
the fifth inning (one
earned) and left with
runners on first and
second in the eighth
inning, with both coming
home to close out the
scoring.
As
the recipients of six
walks and three errors
by the Falcons, the
Hornets didn't have to
do too much at the
plate, but did respond
when given the
opportunity. Both Thomas
Cordova and Anthony
Aguilera collected RBI's
in the first inning
without the benefit of a
hit, while they drove in
the final two runs in
the eighth with base
hits.
It
would be enough offense
for starting pitcher
Lance Abbott, who
pitched six innings and
kept the Falcons in
check, by limiting them
to three hits and struck
out eight batters to
earn the win. The
Falcons did scrap for
two single runs in the
second and fourth
innings to trail 4-2,
but could not get any
closer.
After
freshman shortstop
Jerry Pena
(Los Altos HS)
led off the second
inning with a hit, he
moved to second base
after sophomore catcher
Kevin Camacho
(Santa Fe HS)
was hit by a pitch.
After two balks were
called on Abbott, Pena
was able to score. In
the fourth, sophomore
first baseman
Phil Rodriguez
(Norwalk HS)
was hit by a pitch (one
of four by Abbott) and
came home when a ground
ball by Camacho that was
hit to Trent Abbott at
third base was throw
away, which allowed
Rodriguez to score.
