Starting right fielder Micah Hee switched from the outfield to the pitching mound to record his first save of the season in the Falcon Baseball team 9-8 win over Santa Barbara.
Hee entered the game with one out in the ninth after Santa Barbara brought the game within one run, Hee then forced the first batter to fly out and struck out the final batter to seal the win.
The victory came on the heels of the Falcons 8-7 loss to College of the Canyons in extra innings.
Head coach Ken Gaylord said, “I was real proud of our guys because we had a really tough loss yesterday, [but] we hung in there and ended up on top.”
Against Santa Barbara, Cerritos came out hot accumulating six hits and taking advantage of two errors in the second inning that led to six runs.
Santa Barbara would respond in the third with its first run of the game but Cerritos would answer with a another run in the fourth to take a 7-1 lead heading into the fifth.
In the top of the fifth Santa Barbara would explode to score five runs off five hits and took advantage of one Cerritos error to make the score 7-6.
The Falcons would then score two runs in the bottom of the fifth in what coaches and players alike agreed was the pivotal point in the game.
Gaylord said, “When we scored those two runs, that was huge.”
Starting catcher Adam Rubio added, “They had all the momentum, and for us to come back like that it shows how much we can play as a team.”
Boasting a three run lead, Cerritos would hold the opposition scoreless until the bottom of the ninth inning when Santa Barbara hit a two run home run to bring it within one before the Falcons closed the game out.
Hee said, “We wanted it more than them.”
Cerritos ended the game with a total of 10 hits only striking out five times throughout the course of the game, and while Santa Barbara matched the Falcons hit total the visitors struck out 10 times.
This years team is very young with 22 freshman on the roster, but as of late the team feels it has been improving.
Gaylord said, “I think we’re getting better […] we’re starting to loosen up a bit.”
Rubio concluded, “We started the season slow, but recently we’ve been hitting the ball very well […] we just hope our pitchers can give us six or seven strong innings and the pen can come in and close games out like we did today.”
The win marked the fifth of the season for the Falcons as their record is now 5-8.
Cerritos will host 9-2 Santa Ana Friday, Feb. 25 and then will travel to Santa Ana Tuesday Feb. 28 for a two game series before starting the conference schedule Thursday, March 2 against Rio Hondo.
