The Cerritos College baseball team scored six runs in the last two innings to pull out a 7-5 South Coast Conference win over host Long Beach City College on Tuesday. With the win, the Falcons (18-10, 10-3) are now in a three-way tie for first place in the conference with the Vikings (18-10, 10-3) and El Camino College (21-7, 01-3). On Thursday, Cerritos will host LB City in a 2:30 p.m. conference game at Kincaid Field.

After coming back to take a 5-3 lead with four runs in the top of the seventh inning, the Vikings responded with two of their own in the bottom of the inning. But in the top of the eighth, Cerritos scored two more times and relied on the arm of sophomore closer Jerald Johnston (California HS) to finish off the game.

In the eight inning, sophomore outfielder Kenton McDonald (Long Beach Poly HS) drew a one-out walk and stole second base. Freshman third baseman Jonathan Avila (Carson HS) reached base on a throwing error, with freshman designated hitter Kevin Sainz (Valley Christian HS) loading the bases with a single up the middle. Sophomore shortstop Daniel Lopez (Montebello HS) broke the tie with a single up the middle, followed by a run-scoring sacrifice fly by sophomore first baseman Mike Heenan (JSerra HS).

Johnston came on in the bottom of the seventh inning after sophomore relief pitcher Travis Bonner (Cabrillo HS) walked the first two batters in the inning. After allowing a pair of run-scoring hits, Johnston shut down the Vikings to get out of the inning. He battled out of a second and third situation in the eighth inning and then limited LBCC to one base runner in the ninth inning to secure the win.

Lopez (2-for-5, two RBI), Beza (2-for-5, two RBI), Sainz (2-for-3), along with sophomore outfielder Mark Pena (Bell Gardens HS) and sophomore catcher Gary James (Sunny Hills HS) all had two hits for the Falcons on the day.