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Knowing they had
to win a pair of games on Saturday, the Cerritos
College baseball team set out for a long day. After
posting an 8-7 win over #7-seeded Mt. San Jacinto
College in the morning to even their series, the
11th-seeded Falcons (27-17) opened up a 10-3 lead in
the tie-breaker. However, the Eagles (33-11) scored
eight runs in the seventh inning and held on for a
12-11 victory. The loss ends the Falcons season,
while the program has not won a playoff series since
the 2003 season.
In the second game
of the day, the Falcons used a six-run sixth inning
to open up their biggest lead of the series. In that
stanza, sophomore third baseman
Brian
Gaylord (La Mirada HS) opened
the scoring with a solo home run, his first of the
season. Sophomore outfielder
Brandon
Pesante (La Mirada HS) reached
on an error before freshman designated hitter
Jacob Eaton (Calvary Chapel HS)
singled. That set the table for freshman
Josh Bryan
(La Mirada HS), who blasted a three-run
home run, his second of the series and third of the
season. Sophomore catcher
Paul Hayes
(Bellflower HS) then singled and freshman
outfielder
Jake
Mayoral (Rocklin HS) followed
with a double. The scoring in the inning concluded
when freshman shortstop
Max
McEleney (Long Beach Wilson HS)
doubled in both runners.
Freshman pitcher
Skye Severns (Claremont HS),
who earned the win in the first game of the day
after pitching 3 1/3 innings of relief, came back to
start the second game. He lasted 2 2/3 innings and
allowed three runs (all unearned), before stepping
aside for Bryan, who shut down the Eagles for 3 1/3
innings.
But in the seventh
inning, Mt. San Jacinto exploded for eight runs (six
earned) against sophomore relief pitcher
Steven
Blanchette (Schurr HS).
Freshman
Tucker
Woods (La Mirada HS) came on
the get out of the seventh inning and pitched a
scoreless eighth inning.
In the ninth, the
Falcons did score once when Eaton singled in Pesante,
who doubled with one out. The Eagles called on game
one winner BJ Salsbury, who retired the final two
batters for the save. Eaton (3-for-5, 3 RBI) and
Bryan (3-for-5, 3 RBI) led the way, while McEleney
(2-for-4, 3 RBI, HR) and sophomore outfielder
David Neff (John Glenn HS),
who went 3-for-5 with an RBI, also played well.
The reason for the
second game of the day was an 8-7 Falcon win.
Cerritos took a 5-0 lead after the first two
innings, which included a two-run triple by Hayes in
the second inning. But the Eagles scored six time in
the third off freshman starting pitcher
Chris
Villalobos (El Rancho HS). But
Cerritos responded with single runs in the fifth,
seventh and eighth inning, with the eventual
game-winning run scoring on an RBI double by
freshman second baseman
Joe Terry
(Long Beach Poly HS).
Both Gaylord
(3-for-5, 2 RBI) and Terry (3-for-4, RBI) each had
three hits, while Neff (2-for-3, 2 walks), Eaton
(2-for-4, RBI) and Pesante (2-for-4) all added a
pair of hits.
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