Starting off its season on a good note, the Cerritos College baseball team managed to earn a win against College of the Canyons on Thursday, Jan. 30 with a score of 1-0.
The Falcons kept the whole game in clutch due to the lack of successful hits throughout the game.
Head coach Ken Gaylord knows that the players have a strong defense, but definitely need to work on their offense.
“We played good defense for the most part. Our pitchers really made big pitches when they had too, we hung in their and found a win” said Gaylord.
“I was disappointed in the way we swung bats today. Yeah they hit some bleeders in there, offensive wise, we can do a lot better.”
The Falcons only managed to get five hits throughout the game, while College of the Canyons had 10.
The game started off slow with sophomore starting pitcher Jared Robinson striking out batter after batter even after getting hit with the ball in the fourth inning.
Robinson lasted until the seventh inning only to be relieved from the game after a hit from the opposing team ricocheted off of Robinson’s heel.
Freshman left handed pitcher Joe Fernandez then came to the mound to pitch the rest of the seventh inning.
With three men on base, Fernandez comes through for his team and strikes out two batters in a row.
The Falcons scored the only point with a run by sophomore outfielder Johnny Martinez.
With the help of two sacrifice bunts and a fly ball from his team mates, Martinez was able to slowly run from base to base and eventually to home plate.
“Practice wise, I feel like we need to work on not hitting so many fly balls,” Gaylord said.
The top of the eighth inning introduced a third pitcher to the mound, sophomore Jonathan Grana.
With a strike out followed by a double play, Grana proceeded to end the eighth inning rather quickly.
As the eighth inning came to an end, the Falcons weren’t able to put another run on the board.
Grana comes up to the plate in the final inning and the tension suddenly rises.
Starting the ninth inning on a good note, Grana immediately struck out two of Canyon’s batters
The College of the Canyon’s got a man on first base.
With two outs, two balls and a strike on the board, Grana wound up his pitch and threw a ball that bounced off the ground and into the mask of catcher Chris Carillo.
The live ball is quickly picked up by Carillo when he realized that the opposing player was running to second base.
With almost no hesitation, Carillo throws the ball to second base cutting off the runner and ending the game.
“Usually when the ball gets off your first instinct should be to get up, find the ball and see if you can make a play.” Carillo said ” When I saw that I had a play available, I took the chance and things worked out well”.
The game was close and the Falcons came in clutch with a victory.
The Cerritos baseball team played very good defense and came through with all their pitchers and catchers.
Second baseman Victor Guadalupe looks forward to the season and feels a win is a great way to start off.
“Close game, bext time we gotta come out! We need to bring the bats a little more, but it was a good defensive game with great pitching,” Guadalupe said.
The season looks promising for the Cerritos College baseball team.
