In a season where the Cerritos College baseball team has struggled from the beginning, players have been required to shift defensive positions on occasion. In Tuesday's 13-8 South Coast Conference loss to visiting Compton College, the Falcons received two innings of relief pitching from position players. Freshman Gregory Navarro III (West Covina HS), who opened the game behind the plate, came in to pitch a scoreless eighth inning, while freshman outfielder Wyatt Hall (Long Beach Millikan HS), who was a defensive replacement in center field, tossed a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
In addition to their success on the mound, Navarro went 1-for-4 at the plate and scored a run, while Hall hit his first home run of the season and was 2-for-3 with a pair of walks.
The Tartars (6-22, 3-11), who opened early leads of 5-0 and 8-1, took advantage of six Falcon (5-20, 4-11) miscues on defense, which accounted for seven of the runs to be unearned.
Trailing 8-1 heading into the bottom of the third inning, consecutive walks to freshman second baseman Alejandro Bueno (Centennial, NV HS) and sophomore shortstop Aaron Paek (Sunny Hills HS/Hope International University) got things started for Cerritos. After the first out was recorded, sophomores Andre Alvarez (Walnut HS) and Michael Gonzalez (St. Bernard HS) each drove in runs with hits, with sophomore first baseman Trevor McInerney (Cerritos HS/El Camino College) also bringing in a run with a sacrifice fly.
The Falcons closed the game to 9-6 after putting a pair of runs in the baord in the fourth inning, but Compton came back with four runs in the top of the fifth inning to put the game out of reach.
In addition to Navarro and Hall on the mound, freshman Anthony Gonzalez, Jr. (Norwalk HS) tossed two innings and allowed just one hit.
By the end of the game, McInerney and Hall each had a pair of hits, with Bueno reaching base three times.