Baseball Drops First Series of Season at Cerritos

NORWALK, Calif. --- El Camino College suffered a 7-4 South Coast Conference loss to Cerritos on Friday afternoon at Kincaid Field.

The loss marked the first conference series the Warriors have lost this season. It is also just the second time this season that the Warriors have dropped two straight games and first since Feb. 7-10 when they lost to Golden West and Southwestern respectively.

On Tuesday, the Warriors took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Dylan Mares. They would add to their lead in the third when Nolan Fox led off with a double and would eventually come around to score on a double-play ball, making it 2-0 ECC.

The Falcons would cut the deficit in half in their half of the third and then took the lead with a three-run fifth inning, capped off by a two-run home run by CJ Berthon that was ruled to just stay inside the foul pole in left as it crossed the wall, making it 4-2 for the hosts.

The Warriors would never lead again in the game despite loading the bases in the seventh inning. Trailing 6-2, Slater Nunez singled to center to bring in two and cut the deficit to 6-4. Caden Lewis then worked a walk against reliever Jake Fowler to load the bases again for Dylan Mares, but Fowler got the Warriors' first baseman to fly out to center to end the threat.

Fowler would allow three more baserunners in the final two innings but the Warriors could not cash any of them in to suffer their sixth loss of the season. The team stranded nine runners on base including four in scoring position and three of them in the seventh and eighth inning combined.

The Warriors will return to action on Tuesday afternoon for another SCC series that begins on the road at East Los Angeles. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.