The Cerritos College baseball team fought back from an early 3-0 deficit to go on and record a 12-6 non-conference season-opening win at Mt. San Jacinto College Saturday afternoon. The Falcons (1-0) drew 11 walks in the game, including five in the eighth inning, which drove in three of their runs. The team will play their season-opening game at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday at Kincaid Field and host Glendale College.

Trailing 3-0 heading into the top of the fourth inning, sophomore outfielder Kenton McDonald (Long Beach Poly HS) led off with a deep triple to right-center field. With two outs, sophomore outfielder Fermin Beza (California HS/William Jessup University) laced a one-hopper that got past Eagles third baseman Ben Moreno, which drove in McDonald. Freshman second baseman Derrick Edwards (Mary Star of the Sea HS) followed with an RBI triple and scored when Mt. San Jacinto shortstop Bryan Derzen threw the ball away.

The Eagles took a 4-3 lead lead in the bottom of the stanza off sophomore relief pitcher Travis Bonner (Cabrillo HS), which included an error by the pitcher that led to the run.

However, the Falcons were well on their way to working through 10 Eagles pitchers on the day. It started in the fifth inning when freshman designated hitter Vincent Santana (Hacienda Heights Wilson HS) drew a lead-off walk, followed by an RBI triple from sophomore outfielder Mark Pena (Bell Gardens HS), who came home to score on a wild pitch. Cerritos broke open a 5-4 game with seven runs in the next two innings, as Mt. San Jacinto went through their entire bullpen.

In the seventh inning, Santana was hit by a pitch and Pena singled to left field. With one out, sophomore shortstop Daniel Lopez (Montebello HS) loaded the bases with a base hit. Sophomore catcher Gary James (Sunny Hills HS) drove home a pair with a base hit, while Beza successfully laid down a sacrifice squeeze bunt to drive in a run. Sophomore first baseman Mike Heenan (JSerra HS) capped off the four-run inning with an RBI single.

Mt. San Jacinto pitchers struggled to find the stike zone, and the Falcons were the beneficiary of five straight walks and a hit batter in the eighth inning. With the bases loaded, Beza, Edwards and Heenan all brought home runs with free passes.

On the mound, Bonner earned the with with 3 1/3 innings of work, while relief pitchers Sean Kinnicutt (Warren HS), Carlos Hernandez (Pioneer HS) and Jerald Johnson (California HS) combined to allow just four hits in 3 1/3 innings, while striking out a combined five batters. Sophomore starter Adrian Ramirez (Santiago HS) lasted just two innings and allowed three runs on four hits and three walks.