The Cerritos College
baseball team saw their
two-game lead in the
South Coast Conference
cut in half after their
10-2 loss at home to
Long Beach City College
on Thursday. With the
setback, the Falcons
dropped to 10-3 in the
SCC and 19-13 overall,
while the Vikings moved
closer with their 9-4
record and are now 22-10
on the season. The two
teams play on Saturday
at Joe Hicks Field at
noon, with the game also
being broadcast on
www.klbc.org.
With sophomore ace
John Ortega
(Downey HS) on
the mound, the Falcons
felt as though they had
a good chance of
increasing their lead
over the rest of the
conference. However, the
Vikings picked up a
single run in the first
inning, three more in
the third and then
chased Ortega on the way
to a five-run sixth
inning.
In the first, Michael
Schultz led off with a
double and came home on
a base hit by Derek
Wurtz. Ortega, who
entered the game with an
8-2 record and a 2.24
ERA, was hit for seven
runs and nine hits,
while he walked three
and hit a batter. Very
uncustomary of Ortega,
who was the SCC Pitcher
of the Year last season.
But the Vikings were on
top of Ortega, as Sean
Beckley led off the
third inning with a
double before Hector
Uribe was hit by a pitch
and Schultz drew a walk
to load the bases. Alex
Van Horn made it a 3-0
game with a two-run
double, while Trevor
Costin followed with a
run-scoring single.
Cerritos did counter
with a two-run sixth
inning after LBCC took a
9-0 lead. Sophomore
outfielder
Anthony Topete
(Norwalk HS)
led off with a base hit,
while sophomore
shortstop
Jerry Pena
(Los Altos HS)
collected one of his
own. With two outs,
freshman first baseman
George Sanchez
(Gahr HS) drove
in both runs with a base
hit.
Serrato pitched the
first eight inning and
limited the Falcons to
eight hits and struck
out seven to improve his
record to 7-1 on the
year. He also drove in
the team's final run
with a double in the
ninth inning. Costin
(3-for-5, 3 RBI),
Schultz (2-for-3, 3
runs), Van Horn
(2-for-5, 2 RBI) and
Beckley (2-for-4, 2
runs, 2 RBI) all had big
games at the plate for
Long Beach. The trio of
Topete, Pena and Sanchez
all had two hits for the
Falcons, who finished
with nine on the day.
