Needing a win to stay alive in the Super Regional Playoffs, the Cerritos College baseball team saw their season come to an end with an 8-3 loss to Glendale College on Friday at Kincaid Field. The Falcons, who were seeded #4, concluded their season with a 33-11 record.

Cerritos opened the scoring in the game when sophomore outfielder Evan Saito (Torrance HS) led off with a base hit. He came around to score on a double by freshman designated hitter Brody Cuellar (Bishop Montgomery HS), who was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple. Freshman first baseman Wyatt Ormonde (Long Beach Millikan HS) followed with a base hit up the middle that would have scored Cuellar with two outs.

After the #5-seeded Vaqueros (32-12-1) tied the game in the top of the third inning, Cerritos responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning to regain the lead. With two outs, Ormonde and sophomore outfielder Isaiah Rios (St. John Bosco HS) singled to put two runners on base. With sophomore second baseman Dylan Immel (El Segundo HS) at the plate, he dropped a base hit between three defenders in shallow left field, which allowed both runners to score.

Facing sophomore starting pitcher Derek Valdez (Los Alamitos HS), Glendale was able to tie the game in the fifth inning on a pair of unearned runs, while a two-out, two-run single by Alex Dolan put the Vaqueros in the lead, which they would maintain the remainder of the game.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Saito and freshman outfielder Owen Martin (Narbonne HS) both reached base on a hit batter and walk, respectively. But the Falcons were unable to push across any runs.

The Vaquers put the game out of reach in the top of the eighth inning on an uncharacteristic error by Saito in center field. With two outs and the bases loaded, David Lozano sent a fly ball to left-center field, where Saito dropped the ball, which allowed all three runs to score.

Cerritos loaded the bases in the eighth inning, but once again came up shy of adding to their run total.

Photos by Daryl Peterson