After scraping for a pair of single runs to tie
the game at 2-2 through the first five innings,
the Cerritos College baseball team saw visiting
Santa Ana College push three runs across the
plate in the top of the eighth inning and hold
on for a 5-2 non-conference win at Kincaid Field
on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons (2-6), who
dropped their third straight game, will host
Golden West College at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Cerritos starting pitcher
Chris
Villalobos (El Rancho HS)
withstood some early pressure from the Dons
(6-1) hitters the first two innings and settled
down the final five innings he pitched. He came
out after allowing two runs on seven hits, while
he struck out five. Freshman
Kevin
Hendrix (Mayfair HS) was met
by a lead-off single from Taylor Richardson to
start the eighth inning. After a wild pitch
landed in the dugout, allowing Richardson to
move to third base, Brett Tanos followed with
the eventual game-winning RBI single. Chris
Miller followed with an RBI triple, while
pinch-hitter Jordan Byrd closed out the scoring
with a run-scoring single.
After falling behind 2-0 through the first three
innings, the Falcons strung together a pair of
innings where they scored. In the third,
freshman first baseman
Tim Soonthorngarun
(John Glenn HS) walked with one out and
advanced to second base on a wild pitch. After
sophomore outfielder
Jake Mayoral
(Rocklin HS) singled, Soonthorngarun scored
on a sacrifice fly by freshman designated hitter
Daniel Luera (Mary Star of
the Sea HS).
Sophomore second baseman
Max McEleney
(Long Beach Millikan HS) drove in
sophomore outfielder
Adam Peacock
(La Mirada HS) from second base in the
bottom of the fifth inning. They weren't able to
capitalize on several other scoring chances and
left nine runners on base, all in scoring
position.
Dons starting pitcher Ben Burke went the first 4
1/3 innings, while relief pitcher Nicholas Perez
came on to earn the win after pitching 3 1/3
innings of scoreless baseball. Sean Slettvet
earned the save.
