Sophomore catcher
Phil Rodriguez
(Norwalk HS)
tied a Cerritos
College baseball
record by hitting
three home runs and
drove in seven runs,
as the Falcons
recorded a 9-0 South
Coast Conference win
at Compton College
on Thursday. The win
improves Cerritos to
16-4 on the year,
while they remain on
top in the
conference at 4-0.
The Falcons will now
host El Camino
College on Saturday
at noon.
The three blasts by Rodriguez tied the record of most home
runs hit in a
season, set by
Mike Ash back in
1962. In addition,
his seven RBI also
ties a school record
with four other
players, with the
last being Isreal
Torres in 1999.
With all of the
attention being
drawn to Rodriguez
for his hitting
exploits, some
should be saved for
freshman pitcher
John Ortega
(Downey HS),
who struck out 14
Compton batters in
seven innings. The
14 punch-outs tied
for fifth on the
school's single-game
record list, and he
shares that total
with John
Honeycutt, who
struck out 14
Moorpark hitters in
1971.
After a scoreless three innings, Falcon sophomore outfielder
Andrew Baslow
(Chatsworth HS)
and freshman first
baseman
Trever Blood
(La Mirada HS)
drew walks before
Rodriguez hit his
first round-tripper,
which turned out to
be all the offense
the team would need.
He clubbed two-run
home runs in the
sixth and seventh
innings before
getting hit by a
pitch in the ninth
inning. Rodriguez
was then removed for
a pinch-runner.
Getting on base for Rodriguez was Blood, who scored twice,
while sophomore
outfielder
Nick Armstrong
(Marina HS)
had three hits, but
scored once.
Sophomore second
baseman
Jose Serrano
(Artesia HS)
had a two-run single
in the sixth inning,
while freshman
shortstop
Jerry Pena (Los
Altos HS) had
two hits.
Ortega worked out of a jam in the first inning by striking
out the last two
batters to end the
inning, while he
struck out the side
in four different
innings. After the
Tartars loaded the
bases with no outs
in the sixth inning,
he struck out the
next three batters
and followed that by
punching out the
next three batters
in the seventh
inning.
|
