With an ever-growing flair for
the dramatic, the Cerritos
College baseball team saw their
6-4 lead against Mt. San Antonio
College disappear after the
Mounties scored four runs in the
top of the eighth inning.
However, the Falcons responded
with six runs in the bottom of
the stanza and came away with a
12-8 South Coast Conference win
on Friday. Cerritos (29-14
overall, 20-4 SCC), champions of
the conference, will find out on
Sunday who they will be facing
in the first round of the
Southern California Regional
Playoffs, which get underway
next Friday. The first round is
a best two-out-of-three series
and the Falcons are hoping that
their record and strength of
schedule is enough to earn them
home field advantage in the
first round.
In that
all-important eighth inning for
Cerritos, freshman designated
hitter
Mario Romero (Los
Altos HS) drew a lead-off
walk and was removed for
pinch-runner
David Neff (John
Glenn HS). After two outs
were recorded, freshman
outfielder
Brian Gaylord
(La Mirada HS) got the
team to within 8-7 with his
run-scoring single. Sophomore
shortstop
Jerry Pena (Los
Altos HS) followed with a
base hit. But, on the most
crucial play of the inning,
freshman
George Sanchez (Gahr
HS) hit a soft roller
between the mound and first base
and looked to beat the throw to
the bag. However, Mountie first
baseman Richie Escalara tossed
the ball over the head of
pitcher Andy Galaviz, which
allowed two runs to score.
Sophomore
Trever Blood (La
Mirada HS) was then
intentionally walked and after
freshman second baseman
Brandon Pesante (La
Mirada HS) reached on an
infield hit, the bases were
loaded. A wild pitch allowed
Sanchez to score, with the other
two runners moving up a base.
Freshman third baseman
Jared
Olsen (Sonora HS),
who has been swinging a hot bat,
then laced a two-run single to
left field to close out the
scoring.
In the ninth
inning, Sanchez, who was playing
first base, came on to pitch the
ninth inning. It was his first
appearance on the mound since
March 4th and he set
down all three Mt. San Antonio
batters for his first save of
the season.
The Falcons
took a 6-2 lead after a four-run
fifth inning, which was
highlighted by a two-run double
from Pesante. Blood drove in the
first run of the inning, while
Pesante came home to score on a
throwing error by shortstop Alek
Figueroa.
Sophomore
Miguel Flores (St. John
Bosco HS) pitched the first
seven innings and allowed four
runs on 11 hits and struck out
seven. He was relieved by
freshman
John Garcia (El
Rancho HS), who struggled
with his control and was charged
with four runs in 1/3 of an
inning. Freshman
Jay Heirigs
(Rocklin HS), who pitched
four innings the day before,
earned the win after finishing
off the eighth inning.
At the plate,
Gaylord, Blood, Pesante and
Olsen all had two hits for the
Falcons, who finished with 12 on
the day.
