In addition to having 12 Cerritos College baseball players named to the All-South Coast Conference teams, head coach Ken Gaylord was also named one of the Tri-Coaches of the Year after leading the Falcons to a share of the conference championship. The title marks their first since the 2003 season and 29th in school history. The coach of the year honor was also the fourth for Gaylord while he has been the head coach at Cerritos, while he also won it twice as the head coach at Long Beach City. In addition to the top honor going to Gaylord, freshman pitcher John Ortega (Downey HS) was voted as the conference's Pitcher of the Year. The team is getting ready for action in the Southern California Regional Playoffs as the #5-seed and host #12 Moorpark College this weekend.
In conference play, Ortega went 7-1 on the mound with a 2.06 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 65.2 innings of work. On the year, we went 10-2 with two complete games and a 2.60 ERA in 93.1 innings. He also struck out 76 and allowed just 87 hits, while opponents batted just .247 on his during the year.
Dominguez is 9-2 on the year with a 2.38 ERA and leads the team with 96 strikeouts in a team-high 105.2 innings. He has appeared in 19 games this season and started 14 times. Flores leads the team with 23 appearances and has gone 5-3 on the year with a team-high nine saves and a 1.69 ERA. He has also struck out 37 batters in 42.2 innings and opponents are batting .154 against him on the year. Rodriguez leads the Falcons in all power numbers and has five home runs and 40 RBI, while he has also doubled nine times and hit three triples to go along with his .319 batting average.
As for Camacho, he has posted a 7-2 record with a 3.16 ERA in 94 innings of work and struck out 71 batters. The middle infield tandem of Serrano (.279, 30 RBI, 21 walks, nine SB) and Pena (.316, 10 2B, 28 RBI, 25 walks, seven SB) have been solid all season, while Blood leads the team on the year with a .351 batting average and 11 doubles, while he also also driven in 36 runs and stolen 11 bases. In the outfield, Armstrong covers more ground than anyone to ever play center field for the Falcons and had just one error, while batting .335 on the year with 21 RBI, 20 hit-by-pitches, .437 on-base percentage and a team-high 21 stolen bases. As for Topete, he came on strong in conference play and batted .337 with all 23 RBI in SCC action and has walked 21 times and stolen 13 bases.
Baslow, who has dealt with injuries most of the season, is a solid player and is batting .325 with 17 RBI and 12 stolen bases to go along with a team-high five outfield assists and no errors. Ceniceros, a very reliable set-up man, has appeared in 13 games, posting a 2-0 record in 20.1 innings, 20 strikeouts and a 1.77 ERA.
