With only five games remaining
in the regular season, the
Cerritos College baseball team
is holding on to their two-game
lead in the South Coast
Conference. The Falcons moved a
step closer to defending their
share of the title with a 15-7
road win against Compton College
on Tuesday. With the win, the
team is now 25-13 overall and
16-3 in the SCC, while they
maintained their lead over El
Camino College, who improved to
14-5 after their win. The
Falcons will now host Compton on
Thursday at 2:30 p.m. before
they play their all-important
two-game series with El Camino.
Cerritos
sprung out to an early 5-1 lead
after two innings, and led by as
much as 12-3, as the Tartars
continued to hit sophomore
starting pitcher
John Ortega (Downey
HS) almost every inning.
Before he was done, Ortega
(10-3) had allowed five runs and
11 hits in seven innings, but he
struck out nine and did not
allow a walk. Freshman
Jay Heirigs (Rocklin
HS) pitched the final two
innings and surrendered two runs
on five hits with three
strikeouts.
In their
three-run first inning, the
Falcons scored their first run
when Compton pitcher Darrell
Hudson was called for a balk
with the bases loaded, which
brought home sophomore
outfielder
Anthony Topete (Norwalk
HS) after he doubled to lead
off. Freshman first baseman
George Sanchez (Gahr
HS) drove in a run on a
ground out, while freshman
designated hitter
AJ Rodriguez (Gahr HS)
singled home the third run of
the inning.
Cerritos blew
the game open with a six-run
fifth inning, with Sanchez
bringing home two with a double,
while the Tartars committed
three errors in the inning.
Sophomore shortstop
Jerry Pena (Los Altos
HS) clubbed his first home
run of the season in the fourth
inning, while four players had
multiple-hit games.
Freshman
third baseman
Jared Olsen (Sonora
HS) had his first three-hit
game, while he also scored three
times and drove in a run, with
Topete, Pena (three runs) and
freshman outfielder
Brian Gaylord (La
Mirada HS) all collecting
two hits. Gaylord also drove in
three runs, as did Sanchez,
while seven different players
had at least one RBI.
