Pitching for the first time in almost two weeks, sophomore starter Kyle Carpenter (Mayfair HS) tossed seven shutout innings to lead the Cerritos College baseball team to a 6-1 win over host East Los Angeles College on Thursday night. The South Coast Conference win by the Falcons (17-12, 9-5) keeps them in a second place tie and two games out of first place. The team will close out their three-game series against the Huskies at noon on Saturday at Kincaid Field.

Leading 1-0 heading into the top of the eighth inning, Cerritos added three more runs and then tacked on two more in the ninth inning to put the game away. All the while, Carpenter (2-2) was limiting East LA to just five hits, while he also struck out five batters. In five of the seven innings, the Huskies had runners on base, but Carpenter was able to keep them off the board.

In the top of the eighth inning, sophomore outfielder Shane Preston (Deer Creek, OK HS) led off with a double and scored when sophomore third baseman Victor Guadalupe (La Quinta HS) reached on an error by East LA second baseman Javier Garcia. With runners on first and third after a Brett Thompson (Corona del Mar HS/Saddleback College) single, Guadalupe scored on a fielder's choice, while an infield out by freshman shortstop Benny Arce (Santa Monica HS) drove in the third run of the inning.

Sophomore outfielder Nick Vasquez (El Rancho HS) was hit by a pitch to lead off the ninth inning and he advanced to second on Preston's third hit of the game. With two outs, freshman catcher Gary James (Sunny Hills HS) laced a two-run double to account for the final runs of the game.