Sophomore second baseman Derrick Edwards (Mary Star of the Sea HS) hit a two-run, first inning home run to give the Cerritos College baseball team an early lead on Thursday. But the lead against host Golden West College wouldn't last long, as they matched that run support in the bottom of the inning. The Rustlers scored three more times to post a 5-2 decision in the first of three games against each other.

The two teams were slated to play on Friday, but with rain in the forecast, that game has been moved to Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at Cerritos, with the two teams also playing at noon on Saturday at Golden West.

With one out in the top of the first inning, freshman shortstop Ramon Bramasco (Cathedral HS) singled, which was followed by the Edwards home run and an early 2-0 lead. Golden West came back and scored a pair of runs off freshman starting pitcher Gilbert Romero (Alhambra HS) in the bottom of the stanza. They added another in the second inning and closed out the game's scoring with two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Romero (0-1) lasted into the fifth inning and was replaced by freshman Micah Hee (Kamehameha, HI HS), who had his best outing of the season. Hee tossed 2 1/3 innings and struck out four batters, while freshman Joe Pacheco (Redlands East Valley HS) recorded three strikeouts in two innings.

At the plate, freshman Dominic Bravo (Warren HS) singled with one out in the seventh inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Freshman Matthew Hickman (La Mirada HS) was hit by a pitch with two outs, but freshman catcher Adam Rubio (Montebello HS) flew out to end the scoring threat. The Falcons threatened again in the eighth inning when sophomore outfielder Kevin Sainz (Valley Christian HS) and Bramasco led off with consecutive singles. But the next three batters went down and Cerritos did not threaten in the ninth.

The top three batters in the lineup accounted for six of the team's eight hits, with Edwards posting three on the day.