In a rare occurrence, the Cerritos College baseball team capped off a week where they played four games on consecutive days. With their 7-4 win over host Allan Hancock College on Thursday, the Falcons went 3-1 during the week and improved their season record to 21-7. They will resume South Coast Conference play on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. when the team travels to Compton College.
After taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, the Bulldogs (15-13) tied the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the stanza. The Falcons then scored single runs in five of the next six innings to pull away for the win.
With the game tied at 2-2, sophomore third baseman Jorge Rodriguez (Bellflower HS), sophomore outfielder Rollie Nichols (Serra HS) and sophomore shortstop Ramon Bramasco (Cathedral HS) all singled to load the bases. Cerritos took the lead on a passed ball, which allowed Rodriguez to score. The Falcons looked to steal another run, but Nichols was out trying to steal home and the team was unable to add to their lead. The fifth inning started with Rodriguez drawing a walk and then advanced to third base on an error, which put Nichols on base. A walk to sophomore second baseman Jesus Mercado (St. John Bosco HS) loaded the bases, where freshman first baseman Michael Gonzalez (St. Bernard HS) drove in a run on a sacrifice fly.
A Hancock error with two outs in the sixth opened the door for another Cerritos run. Freshman outfielder Gabriel Jaime (Fullerton HS) reached on a dropped fly ball and then stole second base. Rodriguez was then hit by a pitch before Nichols plated Jaime with a base hit. It was another error that led to a run in the seventh inning, as freshman catcher Andre Alvarez (Walnut HS) doubled home Mercado, who reached on an error to lead off the inning. They closed out the scoring in the eighth inning when Nichols singled and stole second base with two outs before coming home on a throwing error.
Sophomore starting pitcher Valentin Flores-Gomez (Gahr HS) went the first five innings and gave up two runs on five hits and struck out four batters, while sophomore Jakob Gonzalez (La Mirada HS/San Jose State University) came in to toss the next three innings. Sophomore Edgar Velasquez (Montebello HS) earned his fifth save of the season when he pitched the final inning, with Flores-Gomez improving to 4-1 on the season.
Over the course of the three games in Santa Maria, Rodriguez went 9-for-11 with three RBI and two walks, while Michael Gonzalez drove in three runs on the day. Nichols and Alvarez both collected three hits in the win.