Baseball: Defensive miscues hurt Falcons in loss

Keanu Rodriguez struck out two batters in his one inning of relief
Keanu Rodriguez struck out two batters in his one inning of relief

Back on the field after a week off due to inclement weather, the Cerritos College baseball team struggled on defense, which led to their 5-1 South Coast Conference loss at Compton College on Saturday. The Falcons (7-14, 3-7) will travel to Mt. San Antonio College on Monday to finish their three-game series that has been delayed twice due to rain. The teams split the first two games of the series.

Against the Tartars (9-14, 2-9), a pair of errors in the third inning cost the team three runs. After freshman starting pitcher Franky Lopez (Dominguez HS) hit the first two batters to lead off the inning, Compton's Johnathan Enriquez looked to advance both runners with a sacrifice bunt. However, on the play, Lopez fielded the but and threw the ball away, which allowed both runners to score on the play. A second error in the inning led to a sacrifice fly accounting for the third run of the inning.

Down 4-0 heading into the top of the seventh inning, freshman first baseman Ryan Skjonsby (Long Beach Poly HS) hit a solo home run to lead off the inning to account for the team's lone run. The Falcons had just three hits on the day, with Skjonsby collecting two of them.

Lopez (1-2), who took the loss, allowed four runs (all unearned) over six innings and struck out four batters. Freshman Keanu Rodriguez (Los Altos HS) pitched the eighth inning and struck out two of the three batters he faced.

Photos by Daryl Peterson