The Cerritos College baseball team snapped a three-game losing skid with a 3-2 non-conference win over visiting Golden West College on Tuesday afternoon. The Falcons (6-6) will now start defense of their South Coast Conference title when they begin a three-game series with Pasadena City College. The first game of the set is next Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Field.

After taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning, Cerritos received the best performance of the season from freshman pitcher Valentin Flores-Gomez (Gahr HS), who pitched the first 5 1/3 innings and allowed one run (unearned) on four hits. He worked out of a jam in the third inning when he retired two straight batters after allowing consecutive singles. Flores-Gomez (1-2) was removed after allowing a one-out single in the top of the sixth inning.

Sophomore Kyle Carpenter (Mayfair HS), who opened the game as the designated hitter, came on in relief in the sixth inning. A passed ball and fielding error by sophomore first baseman Brett Thompson (Corona del Mar HS/Saddleback College) opened the door for a two-out, RBI single from Chris Williams.

Carpenter went on to earn his first save of the season, although he surrendered a solo run in the eighth inning. The Rustlers (8-5) opened the stanza with three consecutive singles. And when a wild pitch brought home the second run of the game, it looked like Golden West was going to take the lead. But when Sean Williams bunted for the first out of the inning, Jordan Lucio was caught too far off second base and Thompson fired to second base to cut him down for a double play. Gianna Castillo recorded the third out of the inning on a deep fly ball to left field.

Cerritos scored a pair of runs in the first inning off starter Andrew Arledge (0-1), with the first run scoring on an error and the second on an RBI single from sophomore third baseman Victor Guadalupe (La Quinta HS). Carpenter drove in what turned out to be the winning run in the fifth inning on a base hit that plated freshman center fielder Mark Pena (Bell Gardens HS), who reached base on an error. Pena scored two of the Falcons three runs.

Photos by Daryl Peterson