The Cerritos College baseball team scored a pair of first inning runs, which turned out to be enough offense in a 3-1 South Coast Conference win over El Camino College on Saturday at Kincaid Field. The win salvaged one game in their three-game set against the Warriors (17-16, 9-9), while the Falcons (14-19, 9-9) will close out their season with a three-game series against East Los Angeles College with the first game taking place on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Kincaid Field.

Freshman pitcher Dylan Algra (Valley Christian HS) battled the entire eight innings to pick up his second win of the season. El Camino forced Algra (2-4) to pitch out of the stretch the entire game, as they threatened to score the entire game. He worked out of trouble in the first inning by getting Justin McCullough to ground out with runners on second and third, while Jaysen Delgado struck out and Tony Poncia grounded out to strand runners at second and third in the second inning. In the third inning, the final out was made at the plate when sophomore second baseman Tyler Acevedo (Sunny Hills HS/Irvine Valley College) cut down Daniel Timmerman after mishandling a ground ball.

Offensively, the Falcons scored twice in the first inning and added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Freshman designated hitter Jared Robinson (Bishop Amat HS), who came on to earn his first save of the season, bunted his way on to start the stanza and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt. After an infield out and a walk to freshman first baseman Jose Romero (Whittier HS), Robinson scored on a wild pitch from Alex Navarette (3-5). Freshman third baseman Hayden Stevens (Katella HS) followed with an RBI single.

But it was Algra and his defense behind him that kept El Camino in check for the remainder of the game. The Warriors did push an unearned run across in the fourth inning, but left runners in scoring position in the fifth inning, sixth inning and eighth inning. Freshman outfielder Joseph Rivera (Savanna HS) made a running catch on a ball by Rex Calkins to end the eighth inning with a runner on third base, while sophomore shortstop Cesar Castillo (Bellflower HS) doubled up Trent Miera to end the game. Acevedo came into the game in the bottom of the first inning when freshman shortstop Jacob Valdez (Katella HS) was hit in the face on a bunt attempt and was removed from the game.

Photo by Daryl Peterson