Warriors Rally in the Ninth to Walk Off No. 3 Cerritos

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College scored four times in the bottom of the ninth to stun No. 3 Cerritos with an 8-7 walk-off South Coast Conference victory on Saturday afternoon at Warrior Field.

The Warriors overcame a four-run deficit with five unanswered runs including a four-run ninth to pull off the victory. Lucas Bonham was 3-for-5 and was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle while Matt Hammond was 2-for-4 with the game-winning sacrifice fly in the ninth.

Tyler Tellenbach picked up the win in relief after having his best career outing. The right-hander tossed four innings of scoreless relief and allowed just one hit with two walks while setting a new career high with six strikeouts. Coming into Saturday's game, Tellenbach had six strikeouts total in nine previous appearances including one start.

The game was a back-and-forth affair early as the teams traded the lead twice in the first four innings. But with the Warriors leading 3-2, the Falcons put up a five-run inning for the third straight game in the series and second straight in the fifth. The Falcons sent nine batters up to the plate in the fifth against starter Luke Steward and hung a five-spot with a pair of two-run home runs and an RBI single to make it 7-3 Falcons.

The Warriors got one back in the sixth inning as Gio Crow launched his second home run of the season over the left-field fence to make it 7-4 against Falcons starter Derek Valdez.

That would be the last run the Warriors scored off the Falcons starter as Valdez went eight innings and allowed four runs on 10 hits with one walk and six strikeouts en route to a no-decision.

In the ninth, the Falcons went to reliever Nicholas Moreno who got into trouble immediately, walking Crow and Ryan Matsukawa and then hitting Daniel Craig in between the numbers on his back to load the bases with no one out.

The Falcons again went to the bullpen to AJ Gonzalez, who picked up the win for Cerritos out of the pen in game two.

But that was not to be on this day as Bonham hammered a bases-clearing triple off the wall in right-center, tying the game at 7-7. The game ended on the next hitter as Hammond hit the second pitch from Gonzalez deep enough to left-center to plate Bonham on a sacrifice fly to end the game.

The Warriors improved to 8-7 in SCC play with the victory and will take on Compton in their next series beginning Tuesday at Warrior Field.