Box Score | Season Stats

April 25, 2009

Baseball:

Long Beach drops crucial 7-3 game to Cerritos, must win Tuesday for SCC title

The Long Beach City College baseball team suffered a tough 7-3 South Coast Conference loss to visiting Cerritos College on Saturday at Joe Hicks Memorial Field.

The loss dropped the Vikings into a virtual tie for first place in the SCC standings at 16-7 and 25-16 overall. With one conference game remaining on its schedule, Long Beach must win on Tuesday at Cerritos to secure at least a share of the conference championship.

Cerritos, Mt. San Antonio, and El Camino all entered play today with 13-7 records. While LBCC ends its SCC schedule on Tuesday, they will all still play two more games on Thursday and Friday.

On Saturday, Cerritos (24-14, 14-7 SCC) pounded out 17 hits, including 12 off LBCC starting pitcher Blake Golding, to cruise to the win.

Cerritos jumped on Golding early to grab the lead. Jacob Eaton drove in a pair with his single in the bottom of the first to put the Falcons up 2-0.

Cerritos got two more runs in the third and chased Golding out of the game with two runs in the fifth. The Falcons threatened for more in the inning, but sophomore Scott Watson got out of a one-out with runners on second and third jam to keep the game at 6-0.

Watson pitched 4 2/3 innings of relief and allowed just a ninth inning run and five hits while striking out four.

George Sanchez (7-3) pitched a stellar game for Cerritos. He held the Vikings scoreless over eight innings before allowing three runs (one earned) in the bottom of the ninth. Sanchez scattered seven hits and struck out six for the win.

Eaton drove in three runs for the Falcons and was 3 for 5 while David Neff went 4 for 5 with two runs and a RBI.

Golding earned the loss for Long Beach to fall to 6-5. He allowed six runs and 12 hits. Third baseman Andy Hernandez led LBCC at the plate going 3 for 4 with a run.

The Vikings travel to Cerritos to close out the SCC schedule on Tuesday (Apr 28) at 2:30 p.m. and end the regular season with a non-conference game on Thursday (Apr 30) at Mt. San Jacinto College.