It was a tough beginning and end for the Cerritos College pitching staff against Chaffey College on Wednesday. Playing one of their rain make-up games, the Falcons surrendered a pair of runs in the first inning and three in the ninth inning, as they dropped a 6-3 game. Cerritos (8-23, 4-12) resume South Coast Conference play on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. when they host El Camino College.

In the first inning, sophomore starting pitcher Joseph Cossette (Laguna Hills HS) allowed a pair of runs, which were aided by a walk, hit batter and pair of wild pitches. The first run came home on a wild pitch and it looked like the Panthers were going to score another run the same way, but a wild pitch rebounded back to Cossette who was covering home plate and he tagged out the runner trying to score.

After the issues of the first inning, freshman Manny Lopez (Brea Olinda HS) came on and limited Chaffey to three hits over four innings, while he also struck out a pair of batters.

Cerritos did make it a 2-1 game in the bottom of the second inning, which started when freshman outfielder Anthony Godfrey (Long Beach Millikan HS) was hit by a pitch. He moved to second base when sophomore third baseman Carlos Vega (Mary Star of the Sea HS/Los Angeles Harbor College) reached on an error. Freshman second baseman AJ Gonzalez (Torrance HS) then advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, with Godfrey scoring on an infield out by freshman catcher Conner Sullivan (Palos Verdes HS).

The Panthers did add a run in the seventh inning when Aaron Whobrey stole home after reaching base on a hit and advancing on an error. The Falcons responded with a run in the bottom of the eighth inning on an RBI single from freshman outfielder Miles Hughes (Carson HS) that plated sophomore outfielder Miles Velez (Santa Fe HS), who led off with a walk.

The Falcons bullpen could not keep it a 3-2 game in the ninth inning, as they allowed a pair of walks and added four wild pitches, which led to three Chaffey runs.

Sullivan drove in his second run of the game in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Falcons stranded two runners when the game ended. Sophomore first baseman Dean Ormonde (Long Beach Millikan HS) had two of the team's five hits on the day.

Photos by Daryl Peterson