Held at bay for the first eight innings, the Cerritos College baseball team put three runs on the board in the ninth inning, but came up short, 7-4 against Long Beach City College on Thursday. The loss to the Vikings was the fifth in a row for the Falcons (8-19-1, 4-13), who will close out their series at noon on Sunday in Long Beach.

Cruising through the first 3 2/3 innings, freshman starting pitcher J'amore' Ward (Gahr HS) saw a slow roller result in a base hit with two outs in the fourth inning. That was followed by a two-run home run by Matthew Pinal, and by the time the Vikings (16-11, 9-5) were done, they had scored six runs in the fourth inning. The Falcons didn't help Ward, as they committed two errors in the inning, which led to four of the runs being unearned.

Cerritos did score a single run in the fourth inning when freshman outfielder Lucas Iorgulescu (Marina HS) singled home freshman outfielder Jason Givens (Santa Fe HS), who led off with a walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch.

Down, 7-1 after five innings, the Falcons bullpen came in and did a superb job of making sure no more runs were added. After freshman Jael Leal (Gahr HS) pitched a pair of perfect innings, sophomore Braydon Williams (Dorsey HS/West Los Angeles College) and Moses Dokes (Santa Barbara HS) each tossed an inning, with Dokes striking out two of the three batters he faced.

Long Beach City starting pitcher Reed Passmore, who had limited Cerritos to just four hits through the first eight innings, was finally met with some resistance. In the ninth inning, the Falcons mounted a rally and scored three times. Givens (2-for-3, walk, two runs) led off with a walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. With two outs, freshman outfielder Elijah Fountain (Grand Lake, LA HS) was hit by a pitch, which was followed by three consecutive RBI singles up the middle.

In succession, freshman catcher Daniel Mariscal, Jr. (Long Beach Poly HS), freshman shortstop Julian Francois (Serra HS) and freshman first baseman Dean Ormonde (Long Beach Millikan HS) slapped out hits. With the tying run at the plate, freshman third baseman Mike Santos (Servite HS) was edged out at first on a ground ball, which ended the game.

Photos by Daryl Peterson