Offense Stalls as Warriors Shutout at Cerritos

The El Camino College offense was stymied Monday afternoon as the Warriors were blanked, 3-0, by Cerritos College at Kincaid Field.

The Warriors (14-12, 6-5) managed just three hits against Falcons' (19-6, 6-4) starter Gilbert Romero. The game was made up from Thursday's postponement due to rain, which allowed the Falcons to toss out their ace for a second time against the Warriors.

The left-hander tossed a complete-game shutout on Monday, allowing two walks with the three hits. He struck out six. In two outings against ECC, Romero tossed 16 scoreless innings and allowed a combined six hits and five walks while recording 14 strikeouts.

The Warriors had a solid outing from their starter as well on Monday as Spencer Long allowed three runs, just one earned, on five hits. He walked four and struck out six in the losing effort. Tommy Stropky tossed one scoreless inning of relief, allowing one hit.

Jordan Folgers, Cody Wissler and Joseph Borges all recorded the Warriors hits on Monday with Spencer Palmer and Jerry Granillo drawing free passes from Romero.

The game was a pitchers' duel through five innings. Romero issued a leadoff walk to the Warriors in the top of the sixth but retired the next three to end the Warriors half. In the bottom of the inning, Long got the first out of the inning but then walked Rollie Nichols to put a runner on. A wild pitch moved the runner into scoring position and then Ramon Bramasco drew a walk to put two on base.

Jesus Mercado ended the scoring drought for both teams as he singled to left field to score Nichols with the first run of the game. A throwing error from Borges in left field allowed both baserunners to advance into scoring position.

Michael Gonzalez cashed both runs in with a double to put the Falcons up by three and the Warriors could not overcome the deficit, getting just two baserunners in the final three frames.

The Warriors will return to action Tuesday at home as they host West Los Angeles in a non-conference game. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at Warrior Field.