The Falcons baseball team swept the season series against Compton College in 11-0 shutout.
Previously playing Compton College on two separate occasions on away territory the Falcons were able to win both games 19-5 on April 3, and 4-1 on April 5.
Cerritos College played a fluid ball game, putting up 16 hits throughout all eight innings.
The team had nine RBI’s, eight batters walked and 15 runners were left on base in the games entirety.
Head coach Ken Gaylord said, “We left a lot of runs out there, but pitching and defense was good.”
He said, the team was told to just take care of business coming into the last series game against Compton College.
When it comes to conference matches, Gaylord says, “You don’t look at their records, it’s about us getting better and that’s how you gotta take it.”
Sophomore second baseman Rollie Nichols made up four of the 16 hits in the game against Compton College.
Nichols finished the game with two RBI’s and scored once in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Nichols said, “I haven’t been hitting to well, but I talked to Gaylord before the game and he told me just to simplify and trust in my abilities.
“It worked out, I got a few good hits and it made it easier when you have guys on base, opens up holes and it helps in scoring runs.”
When Nichols went up to bat, he tried to just clear his head and feels like he usually does better when he’s clear headed.
“I was trying to stay up the middle, which I got a couple hits up the middle. I told my coach ‘I think I’m going to stay up the middle for the rest of my life,'” Nichols said.
Freshman left fielder Gabriel Gonzalez was left on base four times throughout the game.
He explained how his certain approach at bat, shifts when it comes to the pitches he’s seeing.
With the audience talking to him when he’s batting he feels like it’s more eyes out there.
“They see things that I can fix, so if I hear something I might change it up a little bit. I did hear something I made that adjustment and I got a hit,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez reflected on his performance saying he could’ve helped the team a little bit more, but overall feels like he did pretty well.
He’s hoping to improve on his hitting and feels like his defensive play is steady.
Sophomore Valentin Flores-Gomez pitched six innings, striking out seven batters, walking two batters and allowing only two hits during his play time.
Gomez said, “I could’ve done a lot better with my fast ball, but overall it was an alright [game.]”
When Gomez is on the mount he tries to make sure he doesn’t walk anyone, he comes after the hitters with the intention to strike them out.
Gomez believes the way to improve on areas he lacks is just constant repetition and improving for the next game.
The Falcons have its next conference matchup at Los Angeles Harbor College on April 12.
