Warriors Win Ugly Game At Cerritos To Take Series

NORWALK, Calif. - El Camino College had to come from behind again and they barely held onto the lead in an ugly 11-10 win at Cerritos College on Thursday afternoon at Kincaid Field.

The game featured five errors, two wild pitches, 30 combined hits from both teams, and a few mental errors on the basepaths for both teams.  

The Warriors (10-6, 4-1) have won back-to-back series to open up South Coast Conference play against two of the better teams in the conference in Mt. Sac and Cerritos College (10-6, 3-2)

Neither side pitched well with the Warriors allowing 10 runs on 16 hits and the Falcons pitching staff allowing 11 runs on 14 hits.  Julian Aguiar tossed the best out of the Warriors and allowed four runs (two earned) in six innings of work on 10 hits, 0 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Kyle Hatai picked up the win and allowed three runs on one hit, two walks, one strikeout.  Two of those runs were scored on wild pitches.  

Nathanaiel Davalos allowed 6 runs on 6 hits and three walks in 5.2 innings for the Falcons.  Andy Hurtado suffered the loss after allowing four runs off four hits, one error, and one walk in one inning of work.

Cerritos took the lead first in the second inning after scoring two runs off three hits. 

The Warriors tied the game in the 4th inning at 2-2.  Diego Alarcon led the inning off with a double after getting a second life in his at-bat after the Cerritos right fielder could not hang onto the ball on a diving grab in foul territory.  Galicia reached on a 3B error and Aaron Orozco singled in Alarcon. Camarena would bring in Orozco on a fielder's choice after a throwing error by the Cerritos third baseman, his second error of the inning. 

Cerritos retook a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning.  Aguiar got the first two outs of the inning before allowing a single to Alex Bueno.  Aguiar should've got an inning ending 6-3 putout but the Warrior shortstop misplayed the ball to extend the inning.  The next batter doubled to left center to give the Falcons a 4-2 lead.

The Warriors then took the lead back from them in the sixth inning.  Jimmy Galicia led the inning off with a walk before Neil Feist blasted his first home run of the season over the left center wall to tie the game up at 4-4.   With two outs, Chase Cosner walked, Julian Diaz singled, and Benny Casillas was intentionally walked to load the bases. Cerritos had a lefty-lefty match-up that Chris Villavicencio got the better of and smoked a 0-2 pitch up the middle to make it 6-4 for the Warriors.

The back-and-forth game would continue when Cerritos tied it at 6-6 in the seventh inning.   Kyle Hatai allowed the first two batters to reach on a single and a walk. Both those runners would eventually come around to score on wild pitches to tie the game up.

The Warriors put up another four-spot in the eighth inning to take a 10-6 lead.  Juan Carlos Camarena and Cosner led the inning off with back-to-back hits. Julian Diaz laid down a sac bunt to advance the runners, but the pitcher airmailed the ball into the right field foul territory.  Camarena and Cosner would come around to score and Diaz got to third base on the play. Benny Casillas singled in Julian Diaz to make it 9-6. Jimmy Galicia singled to right field to bring in Casillas to make it a 10-6 game.

Cerritos got one run back in the eighth to make it 10-7.  Hatai allowed the first two batters on base via a walk and a hit by pitch.  After being sac bunted over, the Cerritos runner on third scored on a ground out to second base.

The Warriors would get that insurance back in the 9th inning that proved the difference.  Chase Cosner led the inning off with a double and Julian Diaz drew a walk. Cosner was picked off from second base which was costly because Villavicencio smacked a double to left center a few pitches later that brought in Diaz.  The Warriors held an 11-7 lead heading to the bottom of the ninth.

Diaz moved from second base to pitcher for the final inning and Cerritos quickly had runners on 1st and 2nd with one out after two singles through the left side.  Matt Den Hartog doubled down the LF line to bring in both runners to make it a 11-9 game. He advanced to third on a 4-3 groundout and would eventually score after Owen Beebe singled to second base to make it 11-10.   Buck Anderson singled to give the Falcons runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. Shea Estrin hit a ground ball to first base that the El Camino defense bobbled which should've loaded the bases with their 3-hole hitter on deck.  But the lead runner took off for home and Feist was able to throw a strike to Camarena to easily get the runner out at home to end the game.

All nine Warriors in the starting lineup had at least one hit.  Chase Cosner was 3-for-4 with two runs. Villavicencio, Galicia, Orozco each recorded two-hit games.   Alex Bueno, Nolan Brown, and Owen Beebe each had three hits for the Falcons.

The Warriors will look to complete the three-game sweep over Cerritos College on Saturday at home.  First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 PM at Warrior Field.