SoCal Brackets

NorCal Brackets

After coming in second place in the South Coast Conference, the Cerritos College baseball team has been seeded #12 for the Southern California Regional Playoffs. The Falcons (23-13) will travel to #5-seeded Grossmont College (27-9) for a best-of-three series that will start at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. They will play Game 2 of the series at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday and a third game (if necessary) will start 30 minutes after the conclusion of the game.

Cerritos missed out on a chance to win the conference championship, and a first round home series, when they dropped two of three games against Los Angeles Harbor College on the final week of the regular season. They entered the week with wins in all of their other previous conference series.

As for the Griffins, they were the champions of the Pacific Coast Conference and enter the post-season on a five-game winning streak. They started the season 2-4, but ran off 13 wins in a row and finished their conference with a 19-5 record.

The Falcons are led by five starters batting over .300, with sophomore outfielder Mark Pena (Bell Gardens HS) hitting at a .375 clip and has driven in 31 runs. He also leads the team in hits (57), stolen bases (16) and is tied for the team lead with four triple. Sophomore shortstop Daniel Lopez (Montebello HS) is the team leader with four home runs and is batting .355 with 26 RBI and a team-leading 16 doubles. Sophomore outfielder Fermin Beza (California HS/William Jessup University) is batting .349 with 28 RBI, while freshman second baseman Derrick Edwards (Mary Star of the Sea HS) leads the team with 35 RBI and is batting .316 with 15 doubles.

On the mound, sophomore Jonathan Marriott (La Quinta HS) leads the team with five wins and 57.1 innings pitched to go along with his 4.40 ERA. A trio of pitchers have four wins each, with sophomore relief pitcher Travis Bonner (Cabrillo HS) leading the team with 19 appearances, while sophomore closer Jerald Johnston (California HS) is 4-2 with six saves and a 2.27 ERA.

Grossmont enters the post-season hitting .314 as a team and are led by Tanner Perry with his .415 batting average, 15 doubles, five triples, five home runs and 20 stolen bases. Power hitter Noah Strohl leads the team with eight home runs and 36 RBI, while hitting at a .375 clip, with Robert Bostedt batting .389. Additionally, Travor Beard is hitting .331 with 32 walks and Andres Rios has driven in 30 runs and is hitting .321.

The duo of Alan Strong and Donavon McCrystal are a combined 16-1 with 117 strikeouts in 143.1 innings pitched. Strong has a 1.95 ERA, with McCrystal posting a 2.20 ERA. The Griffins have a collective team ERA of 2.82 and have relied primarily on five pitchers to handle most of their work on the mound.

Play-in Games (Tuesday, May 3)

#18 Riverside City (21-15) @ #15 Santa Barbara City (19-17)
#17 Fullerton (15-21) @ #16 Mt. San Jacinto (20-16)

1st Round Best-of-Three Series (Saturday-Sunday, May 6-7)

Lowest Remaining Seed @ #1 Saddleback (29-7)
#9 Bakersfield (26-10) @ #8 Long Beach City (24-12)
#12 Cerritos (23-13) @ #5 Grossmont (27-9)
#13 El Camino (24-12) @ #4 Cypress (24-12)

#14 Rio Hondo (24-12) @ #3 Golden West (23-13)
#11 Palomar (24-12) @ #6 Cuesta (25-11)
#10 College of the Canyons (28-8) @ #7 Chaffey (27-9)
2nd Lowest Remining Seed @ #2 Glendale (28-8)