Playing their South Coast Conference opener at El Camino because Kincaid Field was too wet to play on after the recent rain, the Cerritos College baseball team came up short in a 3-1 decision against Rio Hondo College. The Falcons will play the second game of the series on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. at Rio Hondo.

Locked in a tight 1-1 game through the first eight innings, the Roadrunners (3-10, 1-0) pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning off sophomore relief pitcher Calix Armijo (Mary Star of the Sea HS). A leadoff single and sacrifice put a runner at second base for Rio Hondo, while a wild pitch put Aaron Torres in position to score on a base hit from Edgardo Lorenzo. An error by Armijo allowed Lorenzo to advance to third and then came home on a passed ball.

Cerritos had runners in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth inning when sophomore designated hitter Marco Lopez (Narbonne HS/Vanguard University) led off with a walk. Freshman outfielder Isaiah Rios (St. John Bosco HS) slapped a single, while an infield out advanced both runners into scoring position. However, sophomore third baseman Anthony Bassett (Colegio Bautista de Managua, Nicaragua/Los Angeles Harbor College), who drove in the team's lone run, grounded out to end the game.

Sophomore starting pitcher Franky Lopez (Dominguez HS) tossed the first eight innings and allowed one run on five hits and struck out six batters.