The Cerritos College baseball team had a slow start to the 3-0 victory against El Camino College Warriors.

With the win over El Camino College, the Falcons are now in first place in the South Coast Conference South Division with an overall record of 19-6 in the season so far.

It seemed as if it was just a very lazy Monday as both teams looked sluggish, the game was very quiet with not a lot of people in attendance.

Sophomore No. 18 Gilbert Romero pitched a great game for the Falcons, controlling the game in all aspects, making it very tough for El Camino to get on base or get runners in the scoring position.

He was also backed up by great fielding from guys like Ramon Bramasco, who made two outstanding plays at short stop, which prevented runners from getting on base.

The Falcons were able to stay focused down the stretch and score all three of their runs in the sixth inning.

Head coach Ken Gaylord said, “It’s just baseball,”referring to the numerous games that were rescheduled which caused the slow start against El Camino College.

Gaylord also stated that this was a huge win for the Falcons, because it was a league game and the Falcons won the series against Warriors 2-1.

Romero pitched all nine innings, he faced 31 batters, had six strike outs and no errors. He ended the game 105-63 pitches to strikes.

“The game went well, we played like we should and hit like we should,” said Romero.

He spoke on his pitching against El Camino College, humbly saying they were okay and that there is always room for improvement.

“The mental side of the game, that’s always the biggest part of the game for any player. As long as I improve on that, I should have a great rest of the season,” said Romero.

There are a lot of things that he says to himself during the game to get hyped and overcome the so called “rough patch.”

Romero said, “I was able to stay consistent with my change up, I had a rough patch in the first two innings, but that’s what happens with pitching you just have to get over it.”

On behalf of the team’s dry beginning in the first four innings Romero said, “We were just waiting for that one spark, as a pitcher as long as I kept doing my job, our hitters would come through.”

Freshman first baseman No. 25 Michael Gonzalez had a pivotal moment in the game where he doubled on a line-drive shot to left field which brought in two runners giving Gonzalez two RBI’s for the game.

After the game, Gonzalez said his approach to the plate was calm, he just wanted to do whatever he could to contribute to the team.

Gonzalez also credited the slow start of the game to many delays and rescheduling.

He was at bat three times and had one hit that batted in two runners to take the lead late in the game.

Freshman catcher No. 33 Andre Alvarez said, “I think we played well as a unit, offensively I think we could’ve put up more runs, but team wise the camaraderie was there.

“We were picking each other up and our pitcher Gil did one heck of a job out there. He was unbelievable on the mount, making key pitches when he needed to, being aggressive in the zone.”

With the Falcons picking up the slack late in the game Alvarez said, “In future reference we can’t be doing that, we can’t be flat from the beginning, we have to be a high energy team all nine innings.”

Alvarez says this was not one of his best games, but helping out his team as much as he can defensively is important to him.

Going into the next couple of matches Alvarez is just hoping to complete the task he needs, to help his team finish the game with a win.

The Falcons’ baseball team will be traveling to the “Allan Hancock Tournament” where they have a game at Cuesta College on March 28.