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Knowing a win over
Los Angeles City College would secure a second place
conference finish and automatic berth into the
Southern California Regional Playoffs, the Cerritos
College baseball team removed all doubt by turning a
4-1 lead into a 9-1 advantage before settling for a
10-5 win over the Cubs at Griffith Park on Friday
afternoon. The win improves the Falcons record to
16-8 in the South Coast Conference and 26-15
overall. Going into the final day of the regular
season, there was a three-way tie for second place
with Cerritos, El Camino College at Mt. San Antonio.
The conference bylaws state that in the event of a
three-way tie, the first criteria to break the tie
is each team's cumulative record against the other
two teams they are tied with. For the Falcons, they
went 4-2 against the Warriors and the Mounties,
while El Camino was 3-3 and Mt. San Antonio was 2-4.
So with the win, Cerritos locked down second place
and will find out on Sunday afternoon where they are
seeded in the 18-team regional playoffs. teams
seeded 15-18 will compete in a one-game play-in game
on Tuesday, while the remaining teams will open
their three-game series next Friday.
The scoring opened
in the first inning for the Falcons when sophomore
third baseman
Brian
Gaylord (La Mirada HS) singled
with two outs and stole second base. Hot-hitting
freshman second baseman
Joe Terry
(Long Beach Poly HS) drove in Gaylord with
a single. Two more runs were plated in the second
inning, which started when freshman designated
hitter
Jacob Eaton
(Calvary Chapel HS) reached on an error.
Freshman first baseman
Josh Bryan
(La Mirada HS) was then hit by a pitch
before both runners advanced on a passed ball.
Sophomore outfielder
Brandon Pesante (La
Mirada HS) drove in a run with a ground out,
while sophomore catcher
Paul Hayes
(Bellflower HS) singled in the second run.
Sophomore starting
pitcher
George
Sanchez (Gahr HS) used his run
support to his advantage, as he pitched 6 2/3
innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on seven
hits, while striking out six. He earned the win to
improve to 8-3 on the season, while sophomore relief
pitcher
Steven
Blanchette (Schurr HS) struck
out three in his 2 1/3 innings of work.
By the end of the
game, Gaylord, Terry and Hayes had three hits, while
Terry drove in four and stole three bases. As a
team, the Falcons stole eight bases, while all nine
starters had at least one hit, with Cerritos posting
16 on the day. Gaylord led the way by scoring three
runs, with freshman shortstop
Max
McEleney (Long Beach Wilson HS)
scoring twice and sophomore outfielder
David Neff
(John Glenn HS) driving in a pair.
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