Cerritos College Athletics - Baseball News: Balanced hitting leads Falcons to important win

03.24.07 - Trevor Blood singled in teammate Nick Armstrong in the first inning to put the Falcons on the board.

03.24.07 - Trever Blood singled in teammate Nick Armstrong in the first inning to put the Falcons on the board.

On the strength of their 8-4 win over Los Angeles Harbor College at Kincaid Field on Saturday afternoon, the Cerritos College baseball team increased their lead in the South Coast Conference to three games. The win by the Falcons improved their record to 10-0 in the SCC, while they are now 22-4 on the year. As for the Seahawks, they dropped to 7-3 in the SCC and are now 14-12 on the year. The two teams will have two games on Tuesday, with one being the completion of a suspended game from March 1. At 1:30, Cerritos will go into the bottom of the eighth inning at LA Harbor leading 11-10, while the two teams will play their regularly scheduled game at 2:30 p.m.

The Falcons received clutch hitting from everywhere in the lineup in the win over the Seahawks. In the bottom of the first inning it was freshen first baseman Trever Blood (La Mirada HS), who singled home sophomore outfielder Nick Armstrong (Marina HS) from second base with a base hit and two outs. Armstrong put himself in scoring position with a two-out stolen base. It was a 3-0 Cerritos lead after two innings, as freshman third baseman Miguel Flores (St. John Bosco HS) doubled down the left field line with one out and then scored on a base hit up the middle by freshman outfielder Anthony Topete (Norwalk HS). Topete then stole second base and scored on a base hit up the middle by Armstrong, who was thrown out at second base after the throw from the outfield came home.

Freshman pitcher John Ortega (Downey HS) was breezing through the first three innings, until an error opened the door for LA Harbor. After the one-out error by Flores, back-to-back base hits cut the Cerritos lead to 3-1, but the Falcons responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the stanza. Sophomore catcher Phil Rodriguez (Norwalk HS) led off the a double and was driven in on a double by Flores. Ortega pitched seven innings to earn the win and is now 6-1 on the year.

In the sixth inning, another error allowed the Seahawks to get back into the game, as Ortega fielded a ground ball and instead of throwing it over to first bass, tossed the ball. The toss pulled Blood off the bag for an error and it gave LA Harbor runners at first and second base. After along fly ball to right field by Stephen Turner advanced both runners, Richard Acriniega singled home the two runs and it was a 4-3 game.

Once again, Cerritos had an answer, as they put three runs on the board in the bottom of the inning. Blood led off by reaching on an error, while Rodriguez doubled to the deepest part of the outfield, which drove in the run. After two outs were recorded, Topete continued his clutch hitting with a single up the middle that scored Rodriguez and went to second base on the throw home. Freshman designated hitter Guillermo Garcia (Artesia HS) followed the a single that scored Topete. The Falcons closed out their scoring in the eighth inning, as Garcia singled, stole second base and came home on a single by Armstrong.