After the first seven innings of their South Coast Conference game against visiting Los Angeles Harbor College on Saturday, the Cerritos College baseball team was holding a comfortable 9-1 lead. Sophomore starting pitcher Jared Robinson (Bishop Amat HS) cruised through his seven innings on the mound, allowing one run on five hits with five strikeouts. But the Falcon bullpen struggled, as the Seahawks scored seven runs in the next two innings and had runners on second and third base with out one in the ninth. Sophomore Elpidio Martin (Lynwood HS) struck out the final two batters and Cerritos posted a 9-8 win. It was the fourth save on the year for Martin.

Next week, the Falcons (13-9, 6-3) will take on first place East Los Angeles College in a three-game series, with the first game set for 6:00 on Tuesday in Monterey Park.

Cerritos staked Robinson (5-3) to a 9-1 lead after the first five innings, with six of those runs coming in the fourth inning. Sophomore catcher Chris Carrillo (St. Paul HS/San Jose State University) opened the inning with a double and after sophomore outfielder Johnny Martinez (Katella HS) drew a walk, freshman outfielder Kyle Carpenter (Mayfair HS) singled in the first run. With the bases loaded, sophomore first baseman Jose Romero (Whittier HS) brought in a run with a sacrifice fly, while sophomore third baseman Hayden Stevens (Katella HS) followed with a two-run triple.

Stevens scored on a perfect bunt by freshman shortstop Daniel Lopez (Montebello HS), with Carrillo driving in the final run of the inning with a single. Romero added a pair of RBI with a base hit in the sixth inning that plated both Carpenter and Robinson, who collected three hits.

After Robinson came out of the game, freshman Joe Fernandez (La Habra HS) faced four batters and did not record an out. Sophomore Jonathan Grana (Downey HS) came in and struggled, as well. In his 1 2/3 innings, Grana hit three batters, walked a pair and surrendered a two-run triple in the ninth inning. Martin hit the first batter he faced and then allowed an RBI double. But he struck out both Tim Martin and Ricardo Perez to end the game.

Photos by Daryl Peterson