Owning a share of first place in the South Coast Conference heading into the day, the Cerritos College baseball team posted a 6-4 win over Mt. San Antonio College on Tuesday at Kincaid Field. The win was the fifth in a row for the Falcons (19-10, 12-4), who entered the day tied with East Los Angeles College for first place. The team will take on the Mounties (14-13, 9-7) on Thursday in a 2:30 p.m. contest in Walnut.

First inning hitting power came in the form of sophomore first baseman Jose Romero (Whittier HS), who clubbed his second home run of the season, a two-out, two-run shot that gave Cerritos an early lead. The Falcons increased their lead to 5-1 after seven innings, with Romero driving in his third run of the game with a single in the third inning.

But Mt. SAC, who scored one run during the 6 1/3 innings that freshman Kyle Carpenter (Mayfair HS) was on the mound, got back into the game with a three-run eighth inning. With runners on first and second and one out, sophomore relief pitcher Jonathan Grana (Downey HS) got Tyler Grijalva to lift a sinking fly ball to right field. Sophomore outfielder Jared Robinson (Bishop Amat HS), who had two hits and drove in a run at the plate, dropped the fly ball, but got the trail runner out at second base.

An RBI double by Connor Starkweather chased Grana for freshman Joe Fernandez (La Habra HS), who allowed a two-run single to Richard Rollice, who advanced to second base on the throw home. Rollice then tried to steal third base, but sophomore catcher Chris Carrillo (St. Paul HS/San Jose State University) threw him out to end the inning.

The Falcons picked up an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning, as sophomore third baseman Hayden Stevens (Katella HS) led off with a single and went to second when Grijalva tried to throw him out at first base from right field and threw the ball away. A wild pitch moved Stevens to third before freshman second baseman Victor Guadalupe (La Quinta HS) brought him home with a sacrifice fly.

Sophomore closer Elpidio Martin (Lynwood HS) came on in the ninth inning and hit Dustin Fraley and Dallas Reed to lead off the stanza. Fraley, the state leader in stolen bases, tried to swipe third, but was thrown out by Carrillo for the first out of the inning. Martin, who earned his sixth save, recorded a strike out and pop up to end the game.

Photos by Daryl Peterson