After a scoreless first five innings, the Cerritos College baseball team found themselves down 4-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning against visiting East Los Angeles College on Saturday. The Falcons were able to push across two runs, but left the tying run on base in a 4-3 South Coast Conference loss. The team will now host Pasadena City College at 2:30 p.m. on Monday in a rain make-up game.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, freshman first baseman Ryan Skjonsby (Long Beach Poly HS) led off with a single and the Falcons had runners on second and third base after a double by freshman outfielder Nico Briones (Long Beach Millikan HS). The first run of the inning came home on an infield out by sophomore outfielder Jason Givens (Santa Fe HS), while Briones scored on a wild pitch. Freshman designated hitter Anthony Godfrey (Long Beach Millikan HS) slapped a two-out single, but was stranded there when the final out was recorded.

Sophomore starting pitcher Rene Galvan (Cathedral HS/Compton College) tossed five shutout innings and limited the Huskies to just four hits while striking out seven. East LA was able to score twice against freshman relief pitcher Keanu Rodriguez (Los Altos HS) in the sixth inning and added two more against sophomore pitcher Tony Lendvai (La Mirada HS) in the eighth inning when it was a 2-1 game. Huskies pitcher Francisco Rodriguez tossed a complete game.

The Falcons had some success against Rodriguez, but could not come up with the clutch hit. The had a runner on second base after freshman catcher Nate Gardenswartz (Long Beach Wilson HS) hit a one-out double, while they also stranded runners at second base in the next two innings. Sophomore shortstop Julian Francois (Serra HS) led off the sixth inning by reaching on an error and eventually came around to score on a base hit up the middle by sophomore second baseman Andy Vega (Mary Star of the Sea HS).

Eight different players had hits for Cerritos with Godfrey and sophomore outfielder Dean Ormonde (Long Beach Millikan HS) each recording a pair.

Photos by Daryl Peterson