Through the first five innings, the Cerritos College baseball team was holding a 3-0 lead over host East Los Angeles College in their South Coast Conference game on Thursday. The Falcons were riding the pitching of freshman starter Franky Lopez (Dominguez HS), who limited the Huskies to just a pair of hits and struck out four in his five innings of work. However, East LA would score five times over the next two innings against the Cerritos bullpen and posted a 5-3 win. The two teams will meet up on Saturday at noon at Kincaid Field.

Scoring single runs in the second, third and fifth innings, Cerritos took an early lead. In the second inning, freshman outfielder Jason Givens (Santa Fe HS) led off with a base hit, moved to second on a passed ball and was sacrificed to third base by sophomore third baseman Carlos Vega (Mary Star of the Sea HS/Los Angeles Harbor College). Givens then came home on a base hit to left field by sophomore catcher Daniel Castellanos (Gahr HS). Freshman designated hitter Ryan Skjonsby (Long Beach Poly HS) kept his hot bat going with a one-out double in the third inning and was plated on a single up the middle from freshman outfielder Nico Briones (Long Beach Millikan HS).

It was a 3-0 advantage when sophomore second baseman Andy Vega (Mary Star of the Sea HS) doubled home sophomore first baseman Dean Ormonde (Long Beach Millikan HS), who was hit by a pitch with one out. The Falcons would get just one more hit the remainder of the game.

All the while, Lopez was keeping the Huskies at bay and even worked out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth inning. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases with two outs, but Lopez got Moises Nolasco to ground out and end the threat. The five shutout innings marked the fifth quality start of the season for Lopez.

East LA scored twice in the sixth inning, while they accounted for three runs in the seventh inning on just one hit. They benefitted off two walks, a hit batter and a run scoring passed ball and wild pitch.

Skjonsby and Andy Vega each had a pair of hits for the Falcons.