Trailing 8-7 heading into the bottom of the ninth
inning, the Cerritos College baseball team took
advantage of two Citrus College errors to score a
pair of runs to pull out a 9-8 win in their 2012
season-opener at Kincaid Field on Friday afternoon.
The Falcons, who trailed, 8-3, scored the final six
runs of the game in the latter three innings, with
only two of the runs being earned. Cerritos (1-0)
will now face Los Angeles Valley College tomorrow in
a doubleheader at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at
Kincaid Field.
The Falcons had runners at second and third base with one out
after sophomore third baseman
Josh Ancona
(Bellflower HS/El Camino College) reached
on an error and sophomore catcher
Chase
Holland (La Mirada HS/Fullerton College)
bunted for a hit that Owls (0-1) pitcher Juan Cabral
dove at, but couldn't catch. A sacrifice bunt by
freshman first baseman
Daniel Renteria
(Bellflower HS) set the table for
freshman designated hitter
Joe Aguirre
(Kennedy HS). He hit a 2-2 offering from
Cabral (0-1) to Citrus third baseman Mike Rowland,
whose throw was well over the head of first baseman
Ricky Mount. The ball rolled into the Falcon
bullpen, and before right fielder Andrew Chico
could retrieve the ball, pinch-runners
Cesar
Castillo (Bellflower HS) and
Andres Dorantes (La Mirada HS)
had raced around the bases for both runs to win the
game. The throwing error to end the game was the
sixth on the day by the Owls.
It was a promising start for Cerritos, as they scored a pair
of runs in the bottom of the first inning, as
sophomore center fielder
Bubby Rossman
(La Habra HS) doubled in a run, while Renteria
added an RBI single. However, Citrus picked up a
single run in the second inning and added four more
runs in the third inning off sophomore starting
pitcher
Kyle Harper (La Mirada
HS/Rio Hondo College), who was chased before
the end of the stanza. Rowland, who drove in three
runs on the day, came up with a two-run double in
the third inning, while shortstop William Ouellette
drove in runs in the second and third inning.
After six innings it was an 8-3 Owls lead, thanks to three
more runs in the sixth inning off freshman relief
pitcher
Geoff Bill (Valencia HS),
before the Falcons started their comeback. A
throwing error by Citrus second baseman Shane Fraijo
started the seventh inning, with sophomore third
baseman
Zach Johnson (Kennedy
HS) collecting an RBI single, while Cerritos
scored three times in the eighth inning without
the benefit of a hit. Owls relief pitcher Allende
Esquivel walked Renteria, and with two outs, hit
three straight batters and saw a run scored on a
wild pitch. Cabral came on in the eighth and allowed
the third run of the stanza to score on a wild
pitch.
Freshman pitcher
Sebastian Frutos (Bellflower
HS) earned the win for the Falcons by pitching
a perfect ninth inning. Johnson, Rossman and Holland
all had a pair of hits for the Falcons, while
Steven Hoyos collected two hits for the Owls.
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