Cerritos Falcons men’s baseball teams fall short in their second game of a two-game series against Fullerton college on Jan. 29. This is the Falcon’s second game of the season in a non-conference matchup.
Cerritos lost their first matchup against the Hornets 12-0 at home on Jan. 27. Cerritos started off the top of the first inning at-bat being the away team.
No. 7, Julian Francois, started the game off with a walk after battling Fullerton RHP, No. 50, Jon Sarmiento. No. 15, shortstop, Andy Vega, struck out at the plate as Francois stole second base.
No. 34, outfielder, Moses Dokes, was up at the plate as Francois stole third base. Dokes hit a hard grounder directly to Fullerton shortstop, No. 15, David Barrios threw him out at first as Francois scored the first run of the game.
Dokes would tally an RBI to his stat line for the game. Cerritos was up 1-0, No. 5, Mike Santos would fly out straight to centerfielder in his at-bat for the third out in the top of the first inning.
Fullerton started off in the bottom of the first with a flyout to right field. Fullerton’s second baseman, RJ Vanderhook, was struck by a pitch from Cerritos, RHP No. 50, J’amore’ Ward.
One error after another, Vanderhook advanced to second base on an attempted pick-off error from Ward as the ball blew right past first baseman No. 44, Sawyer Chesley.
The next pitch would end up hitting No. 19 from Fullerton as runners were on first and second with one out.
The pitching coach for Cerritos would call for a mound visit to evaluate Ward’s performance after hitting two batters at the plate.
Outfielder, Fullerton, No. 35, Miguel Ortiz, would make it to first off an error in the outfield.
Bases loaded, Vega gets the force out and second base and sends it to Chelsey at first for the double play that ends the inning for the Hornets.
Bottom of the third inning for Fullerton, Ortiz singled in between first and second base which brought in Vanderhook who scored the first run for the Hornets as Ortiz tallied an RBI.
Ortiz would later get caught stealing second base as Vega made the tag to end the inning as Cerritos and Fullerton were tied 1-1.
Cerritos failed to score any runs in the remaining six innings at-bat after a series of strikeouts, hits, and caught stealing.
Bottom of the fourth inning, Barrios would be safe at first base on an error off Santos. Bases would go on to be loaded as No. 24, Garet Crenshaw for Fullerton was walked and given the RBI as Barrios would score the only other run in the game.
Both teams were shut out for the rest of the ball game as the Hornets did not need a bottom ninth inning to decide this game.
Fullerton would go on to win 2-1 as they bump to a 2-0 record, as Cerritos drops to 0-2 in a non-conference matchup against the Hornets.
Cerritos men’s baseball team is heavily freshman loaded, it is a matter of time before the chemistry develops as they’ve shown great competitiveness to stay in this game.
Cerritos baseball will play at West Los Angeles, Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m.