With a pair of stellar pitching performances, the Cerritos College baseball team has advanced to the Super Regional Playoffs, which will take place at Kincaid Field next Thursday through Saturday. Facing College of the Desert, the #1-seeded Falcons (34-8) posted wins of 7-0 on Friday and 4-1 on Saturday. The team will now host #8-seed Long Beach City College (29-13) and #13-seeded Riverside City College (27-15) who each won their first round series in two games.

It will be the first meeting against Riverside City since a 6-2 loss in the 2015 SoCal Play-in game that took place at Cerritos, while the Falcons won two of three games against the Vikings in their South Coast Conference series.

After a complete-game pitching performance from freshman Derek Valdez (Los Alamitos HS) on Friday, sophomore Franky Lopez (Dominguez HS) tossed eight innings and allowed one run (unearned) on six hits and struck out five batters. Sophomore Calix Armijo (Mary Star of the Sea HS) pitched the ninth inning to earn his state-leading 11th save. With Lopez (10-0) picking up the win, he and Valdez (12-1) are the first Cerritos pitchers to win at least 10 games in a season since Pat Sweet (11-0) and Tim Lockhart (11-3) accomplished the feat in 1987. As for Armijo, his 11 saves are the most since Mickey Manzo saved 11 games in 2000.

In the win, the Falcons took advantage of Roadrunners pitcher Trevor Stowe and his control issues. Sophomore designated hitter Lucas Iorgulescu (Marina HS) and freshman second baseman Dylan Immel (El Segundo HS) led off the second inning with walks, while a bloop single from sophomore outfielder Nico Briones (Long Beach Millikan HS) loaded the bases. Stowe (6-6) then uncorked a wild pitch, which allowed Iorgulescu to come home with the first run, while a two-out wild pitch brought Immel sliding home with the second run.

Another leadoff walk led to the third run of the game for Cerritos, as Briones walked and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore outfielder Marlon Oviedo (Colegio Parroquial San Rafael N#1 (Nicaragua/Los Angeles Harbor College). With two outs, freshman catcher Alonso Reyes (Culver City HS) singled into centerfield, which brought in Briones. It was another leadoff walk, this one in the fifth inning, that accounted for the final run. After Desert drew to within 3-1, freshman outfielder Isaiah Rios (St. John Bosco HS) and sophomore first baseman Mike Santos (Servite HS) each walked to lead off the fifth. Stowe was called for a balk when he dropped the ball while on the pitching rubber, which set the table for Rios to score on a sacrifice fly by Immell.

Lopez (pictured, above) battled through a first inning where he allowed a pair of hits and a walk to load the bases with one out. But he got Samuele Bruno to fly out, while Cameron DeJournett was called out on strikes to end the inning. A leadoff error and wild pitch in the third inning led to the lone run for the Roadrunners, with Lopez keeping them in check the rest of the way. The final out he recorded came when he got Eric Arreola in a rundown in the eighth inning to end the stanza.

Photos by Daryl Peterson