Continuing where they left off the night before, the Cerritos College baseball team opened up an early 4-0 lead against host Bakersfield College en route to a 5-4 win Friday night. The win was the second in as many nights against the host Renegades and will look for the series sweep at noon on Saturday.

The early lead was in good hands with sophomore All-American pitcher Derek Valdez (Los Alamitos HS), who improved to 3-0 on the year after pitching the first 5 2/3 innings. He did allow three runs (all unearned) on one hit, but did walk a career-high seven batters while striking out eight. Freshman Jake Fowler (Los Alamitos HS) came on in releif and earned his first save of the year, as he went 3 1/3 innings. He saved his best for last by striking out the side in the eighth inning and ended the night striking out Liam O'Reilly, who went down on strikes four times.

In the top of the first inning, sophomore Diego Orozco (Long Beach Wilson HS) reached second on an error by Bakersfield starting pitcher AJ Cox. After sophomore outfielder Evan Saito (Torrance HS) was hit by a pitch, the two advanced a base on a wild pitch. The bases were loaded when freshman designated hitter Brody Cuellar (Bishop Montgomery HS), while the Falcons took a 1-0 lead when sophomore second baseman Dylan Immel (El Segundo HS) was walked, which forced in a run. Freshman third baseman Mateo Heredia (El Segundo HS) followed with a two-out RBI single.

Free bases and another error opened the door for Cerritos to push two more runs across in the second inning. With one out, freshman outfielder Owen Martin (Narbonne HS) and Orozco each drew walks. An error loaded the bases for Cuellar, who brought in a run with a walk, while a sacrifice fly off the bat of freshman first baseman Wyatt Ormonde (Long Beach Millikan HS) accounted for the second run of the inning and a 4-0 lead.

The Falcons struck with two outs in the top of the fifth inning, as Immel was walked, which was followed by an RBI double from Heredia.

Valdez worked out of a jam in the first inning when the Renegades had runners and second and third with one out, but retired the next two batters to end the inning. Valdez walked the bases loaded in the sixth inning, with Fowler coming in to end the threat after a two-out error brought in a pair of unearned runs. It was another error with two outs that allowed the Renegades to draw to within 5-4 in the seventh inning.

At the plate, Immel and Heredia each had a pair of hits, with the Falcons collecting seven in the game.