Baseball: Cerritos handed 7-4 loss to Fullerton College

Falcons handed 7-4 loss against Fullerton
Falcons handed 7-4 loss against Fullerton

For the second time in as many days, the Cerritos College baseball team was defeated by Fullerton College. On Saturday in the Falcons home opener at Kincaid Field, an early lead got away, with the Hornets coming away with a 7-4 decision. Cerritos (0-2) will host Chaffey College on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. in the second of six straight home games for the Falcons.

Trailing, 1-0 heading into the bottom of the first inning, sophomore shortstop Julian Francois (Serra HS) led off with a walk and stole second base. He then came home on an RBI double from sophomore second baseman Andy Vega (Mary Star of the Sea HS), with the second run of the inning coming on an RBI double from sophomore designated hitter Daniel Mariscal (Long Beach Poly HS).

After their early offensive success, Cerritos struggled to keep their bats going and were limited to just three hits and a walk over the next six innings. They had runners on first and second in the sixth inning after consecutive two-hit hits from Mariscal and sophomore third baseman Mike Santos (Servite HS), but were stranded.

Fullerton scored three times in the third inning off sophomore starter JJ Almeda (Warren HS), with Britton Beeson coming up with a three-run double. Beeson drove in the first five Hornet runs of the day.

Heading into the bottom of eighth inning, Cerritos was down 5-2, but pushed across a pair of runs to pull within 5-4. In the inning. Francois led off with a base hit and stole his second base of the game. After a single by Vega put runners at first and third, Mariscal drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. The inning stayed alive after sophomore Carlos Vega (Mary Star of the Sea HS/Los Angeles Harbor College) reached base on an error, with freshman catcher Ryan Skjonsby (Long Beach Poly HS) lacing a single to bring home Andy Vega. The Falcons ended up stranding runners at second and third base.

The Hornets responded with a pair of runs (unearned) in the top of the ninth to finish off the scoring.

Andy Vega went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, with Mariscal posting a pair of hits.