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Although he has missed the last three games with an
injury, freshman
AJ
Rodriguez (Gahr HS) has been waiting
for the opportunity to make a contribution to try
and help the Cerritos College baseball team snap out
of their six-game losing streak. He answered the
call in the top of the eighth inning, and laced a
two-out, two-run double to tie the game against East
Los Angeles College on Saturday at 3-3. Sophomore
Jerry Pena
(Los Altos HS) followed by driving in
Rodriguez in with the eventual game-winning run in a
4-3 South Coast Conference opening win. The victory
gives the Falcons a 9-8 record, while the Huskies
dropped to 8-4 overall and 0-1 in the SCC. Cerritos
will now host Los Angeles Harbor College at 2:00
p.m. on Tuesday.
It looked as
though Cerritos would go again without any offense,
as they trailed 3-0 heading into the top of the
eighth inning and had only five hits to speak of
along the way. But sophomore
Anthony
Topete (Norwalk HS) got things
started with a lead-off base hit, before freshman
Chad
Ostahowski (Lake Elsinore HS)
followed with one of his own. Freshman
Doug Wogee
(Sonora HS) came on as a pinch-hitter and got
the team on the board with a run-scoring double.
After two outs were recorded, Rodriguez stepped up
and drilled a 1-2 offering from starting pitcher
Pete Lavin into the gap, which scored both runs.
Pena, who dropped to sixth in the batting order,
came through with a double of his own, which would
be enough offense for the pitching staff.
Sophomore
John
Ortega (Downey HS), who surrendered
three runs on four hits in the third inning, allowed
the Huskies just three hits over the next three
innings. He opened the eighth inning by walking Joe
Rosalez and was relieved by freshman
Jay
Heirigs (Rocklin HS). After getting a
double play on a line drive, Heirigs walked Aaron
Oliver and was subsequently taken out in favor of
sophomore
Miguel
Flores (St. John Bosco HS). After a
stolen base, Flores recorded the final out of the
inning on a ground out.
Things got a
little hairy in the bottom of the ninth inning, as
Flores allowed a base hit, walk and hit a batter to
load the bases with two outs. He earned his second
save on the year when he struck out Basilio Martinez
on three pitches to end the game. |
