Freshman catcher Daniel Mariscal, Jr. (Long Beach Poly HS) laced a two-out, two-run double down the left field line in the bottom of the eighth inning, which heled lead the Cerritos College baseball team to a 5-3 South Coast Conference win on Saturday. The win by the Falcons (8-14-1, 4-8) over El Camino College salvaged a game in their three-game series and snapped the team's three-game losing skid. Cerritos will now open a three-game series with Mt. San Antonio College on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Kincaid Field.

Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, freshman second baseman Andy Vega (Mary Star of the Sea HS) led off with a base hit and advanced to second on a wild pitch. A walk to sophomore designated hitter Alex Bueno (Centennial, NV HS) gave the Falcons runners on first and second against Warriors pitcher Neil Feist, who came on in the third inning after starter AJ Heistand suffered an injury on a play at first base in the second inning.

After a double play, which advanced Vega to third base, freshman outfielder Moses Dokes (Santa Barbara HS) drew a walk. Freshman Elijah Fountain (Grand Lake, LA HS) came on as a pinch-runner, which provided more speed on the bases. Mariscal then stepped up and drove a 1-0 pitch over third baseman Theo Forshey and down the left field line, which scored Vega, with Fountain racing around to score before a throw to the plate. Inserted into the game at third base in the top of the inning, freshman Lucas Iorgulescu (Marina HS) followed with an RBI single that scored Mariscal.

Starting pitcher Justin Almeda (Gahr HS) went the first five innings and allowed three runs (one earned) and struck out six batters. The bullpen held up for Cerritos, as freshman Noah Perelman (Edison HS) survived a leadoff double in the sixth inning when Dokes threw out Ethan Felix at the plate when he tried to score from third base on a fly ball out. The third out in the seventh inning came after Julio Camarena singled to deep shortstop. The throw to first base got away, but freshman first baseman Sawyer Chesley (Laguna Beach HS) was able to get the ball and throw out Camarena at second base.

Freshman J'amore' Ward (Gahr HS) pitched a perfect eighth inning and after he followed a leadoff single in the ninth with a strikeout, he was replaced by freshman Dawson Holbrook (Godinez HS). After getting Jonah Storey to foul out, he struck out pinch-hitter Dylan Knowles to end the game and earned his first save of the season.

Bueno got the scoring started for the Falcons in the bottom of the first inning when he launched a two-run home run to give the team an early 2-0 lead. It was the second game in a row that Bueno hit a round-tripper.

Photos by Daryl Peterson