A four-run sixth inning by the Cerritos College baseball team helped the team win their South Coast Conference opener on Wednesday afternoon. The defending conference champion Falcons (7-6, 1-0) handed Pasadena City College (3-10, 0-1) a 5-4 defeat and will face each other on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. at Kincaid Field in the second of their three-game series.

The win by the Falcons was also the 700th career win for head coach Ken Gaylord. His career includes 563 wins with Cerritos in his 21st season and 137 victories in six years at Long Beach City College.

Trailing 2-1 heading into the sixth, sophomore first baseman Brett Thompson (Corona del Mar HS/Saddleback HS) led off with a base hit. Freshman catcher Gary James (Sunny Hills HS) drew a walk and after sophomore third baseman Victor Guadalupe (La Quinta HS) singled, the bases were loaded. A sacrifice fly by sophomore outfielder Shane Preston (Deer Creek, OK HS) tied the game before sophomore outfielder Nick Vasquez (El Rancho HS) welcomed relief pitcher Jason Marquez with a run-scoring single. Freshman shortstop Benny Arce (Santa Monica HS) made it a 5-2 game with a two-out, two-run triple.

Sophomore starting pitcher Ryan Arambula (Bell Gardens HS) pitched the first seven innings to earn his third win of the season after allowing two runs (one earned) and seven hits. Sophomore relief pitcher George Mendoza (Bell Gardens HS) surrendered a pair of runs in the eighth inning to make it a 5-4 game before sophomore Kyle Carpenter (Mayfair HS) came on in the ninth and retired all three batters for his second save of the season.