The first two innings of the men’s baseball game proved to be too much for the Falcons to overcome in their defeat at the hands of Santa Ana College with a final score of 13-3.
At the top of the first inning, starting pitcher freshman No. 26 Andrew Arguello gave up five runs via a double by second baseman No. 5 Austin Bartlett who was able to drive in two runs that brought in centerfielder Micah Piteila-Wiggs and catcher No.4 James Williams.
Adding to the score was third baseman No .22 Zack Doak who walked on a throwing error by third baseman Richard Castro and bass runner Bartlett to score and No. 12 Cedrick Perez to advance to third.
Second baseman No.10 Derek Sims continues the first as he singles and advances to second base as Perez and Zoak score making it 5-0 at the end of the top half of the first inning.
With the Falcons unable to respond at the bottom of the first, the Dons doubled down in the second inning.
Perez singles to left field to get Garcia across the plate and so did Bartlett after an error by Nolan Brown. Doak singles to center field allowing Perez to score. Left fielder No.3 Kyle Morrell doubles to right field scoring both No.6 Garet Crenshaw and Zoak knocking out starting pitcher Arguello.
After the top of the second, the score was 10-0.
This score remained until the Falcons got on the board when sophomore No .24 Shea Estrin drew a bases-loaded walk scoring No. 21 David Hays in the bottom of the fourth inning.
At the bottom of the fifth inning with sophomore No. 4 Buck Anderson on second base, No. 15 Andres Vega grounds out to second base while bringing Anderson to score the second run for the Falcons making the score 10-2 Santa Ana.
The Dons responding in the top half of the sixth when with Bartlett on second No. 27 Frank Garcia brought him across the plate after hitting a double into left field stretching the score to 11-2 and Perez flies out to left as the Dons end the top half of the sixth frame 12-2.
In the home half, the Falcons added another run when with Hayes on second Nicholas Martinez, first baseman No.9, singles up the middle to bring in Hayes after the second baseman commits a throwing error.
At the top of the seventh, the Dons add one last run when with Peralta on second, Williams singles to left field cashing in Peralta adding one more to the final box score of 13-3.
Falcons head coach Victor Buttler said, “Every day we come in to give our all. Every day we come in and give our energy the attitude to win baseball games.
“Whenever a game is over I tell the guys to leave it here.”
Hats off to Santa Ana they came in with a plan and executed it well, added Buttler.
Catching up with sophomore starting pitcher and first baseman Nicholas Martinez he shared his thoughts after the short two-game series against Santa Ana, saying “both games the first two innings felt like a slap in the face.”
“But I like how in both games if you take the first two innings out, as a team we outhit them and outscored them,” Martinez continued.
The Falcons wound up ending the preseason with a seven and four record.
They begin conference play Tuesday at home against East Los Angeles College at 2 p.m.
