VICTORY FOR THE HOME OPENER

The FC baseball team welcomed the 2023 season with a 12-2 home-win over Cerritos College on Friday afternoon.

The Hornets drew first blood in the second inning when Elie Kligman got it started knocking a double to right center field. Jimmy Blumberg then singled to third allowing Kligman to come home.

Cerritos tied the game up 1-1 in the top of the third on Daniel Mariscal's hit that got through the left side plating Julian Francois.

Fullerton answered back in a big way in the bottom third thanks to a two-run jack over left field by Isaiah Marquez that brought in Tank Espalin. Kaipo Haole reached on a fielder's choice scoring Britton Beeson.

Up 4-1, the Hornets broke the game open with strong offensive showings in the fourth and fifth innings that totaled five runs. Marquez struck again in the fourth, this time on a hard-hit single that went through the left side scoring Diego Franco and Landon Runge. In the fifth with the bases loaded, Marquez and Kligman worked the count walking in Blumberg and Runge. When the dust cleared Fullerton owned 9-1 lead heading into the sixth.

FC added three more runs in the seventh on Britton Beeson's double that burned down the third baseline scoring Tank Espalin. Bryce Gamble poked one through the right-side plating Beeson and Kligman.

The Falcons managed to get one more across in the eighth on Mike Santos' single to shallow center field that brought Andy Vega home.

Freddy Castaneda got the start and the win for the Hornets going 6 strong innings with 6 hits allowed, 1 earned run, 4 K's and a walk. Ryan Chavez came in to finish off the game earning the save in 3 solid innings with 4 hits, 0 earned runs, 3 K's and 0 walks.

Offensively, Fullerton had five players with multi-hit games in Diego Franco, Isaiah Marquez, Elie Kligman, Britton Beeson, and Jimmy Blumberg. The team had 12 total hits on the day.

Up Next: The Hornets (1-0 overall) will play the Falcons again tomorrow (Sat., Jan. 28th) at Cerritos College. The first pitch goes out at noon.