After the first  two series of South Coast Conference play, the Cerritos College baseball team has taken both, winning two out of three. The Falcons earned an 8-1 win over visiting Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday and are now 11-7 overall and 4-2 in conference play. The team will spend next week in Santa Maria playing non-conference games and open with a 6:00 p.m. meeting with Fresno City College on Tuesday.

In the win over the Mounties (7-11, 2-4), freshman starting pitcher Carlos Hernandez (Pioneer HS) was helped out of a couple of tight situations with inning-ending double plays. After allowing a run in the top of the first inning, Hernandez (2-1) got out of jams in the second, fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Mt. SAC had runners at first and second when Connor Starkweather grounded into his second double play of the game. He allowed a one-out double to Johnny Juarez in the fifth inning and walked Kory Brown before Matt Majher hit into the double play.

The score was knotted at 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Falcons scored three times. Sophomore catcher Gary James (Sunny Hills HS) and freshman second baseman Derrick Edwards (Mary Star of the Sea HS) opened with base hits. Freshman designated hitter Emiliano Estrada (Long Beach Poly HS) had his ground ball hit second base for a single, which allowed the ball to roll away and allowed James to score. After a sacrifice bunt by sophomore outfielder Kenton McDonald (Long Beach Poly HS) off relief pitcher Lorenzo Carrillo advanced the runners, freshman third baseman Jonathan Avila (Carson HS) drove home a pair with a base hit.

The Falcons manufactured two more runs in the seventh and eighth innings to put the game out of reach. Sophomore outfielder Mark Pena (Bell Gardens HS) extended his school record hitting streak to 30 games with a one-out double down the left field line to get the inning started. Sophomore outfielder Fermin Beza (California HS/William Jessup University) was hit by a pitch and then the two pulled off a double-steal. A passed ball scored Pena, with Beza scoring on a single by Estrada.

James finished off the scoring in the eighth inning with a bases loaded two-run single, which plated Avila and sophomore shortstop Daniel Lopez (Montebello HS). On the day, James went 3-for-4 and was hit by a pitch, with Lopez, Estrada and Edwards each adding a pair of hits.

Hernandez tossed six innings and allowed one run and scattered eight hits. The relief trio of Adrian Ramirez (Santiago HS), Alexander Noriega (Carson HS) and Jerald Johnston (California HS) did not allow a hit in their three innings of collective work.