On Tuesday, the Cerritos College baseball team scattered 10 hits and pushed across enough runs to post a 5-2 South Cost Conference win over visiting El Camino College. The win by the Falcons (15-4, 6-1) extended their winning streak to six games, which is the longest since the team opened the 2020 season with seven straight victories. The two teams will meet up at El Camino College on Thursday for the second of their three-game series. It also marks the first time first-year Falcon head coach Nate Fernley faced his former team, where he spent the last 16 years as their head coach.

Cerritos got on the board in the bottom of the first inning when sophomore designated hitter Marco Lopez (Narbonne HS/Vanguard University) drew a two-out walk, while sophomore first baseman Mike Santos (Servite HS) followed with a base hit. Freshman outfielder Isaiah Rios (St. John Bosco HS) doubled home Lopez, with Santos getting thrown out at the plate for the final out of the inning.

Sophomore starting pitcher Franky Lopez (Dominguez HS) retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced through the first three innings. He ran into trouble in the top of the fourth inning, as he allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits, while the defense committed a pair of errors behind him. He got out of the inning by getting Jack Nammack to foul out with runners on second and third base. The Warriors (8-10, 3-4) threatened again in the fifth inning, as a single and two hit batters loaded the bases with one out. But Lopez (4-0) struck out Angel Gonzalez and then got Matt Hammond to hit one back to the mound to end the inning.

The Falcons tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning when freshman outfielder Diego Orozco (Long Beach Wilson HS) walked to lead off, advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore outfielder Nico Briones (Long Beach Millikan HS) and came around to score on a two-out single by freshman catcher Alonso Reyes (Culver City HS).

They added to their lead with a pair of runs in the sixth inning, as Santos led off with a single, moved to third on a single by freshman second baseman Dylan Immel (El Segundo HS) and scored on a double from sophomore third baseman Anthony Bassett (Colegio Bautista de Managua, Nicaragua/Los Angeles Harbor College). After a walk to Orozco loaded the bases, sophomore shortstop DJ Massey (Gahr HS/Central Arizona College) was hit by a pitch, which brought in the second run of the inning. Cerritos capped off the scoring in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Reyes that brought home Bassett who led off with a walk.

After the fifth inning, Lopez settled down and limited El Camino to one hit over his last three innings, with sophomore Calix Armijo (Mary Star of the Sea HS) pitching the ninth inning and earned his fifth save of the year.

Photos by Daryl Peterson