Making the most of the 15 walks they were issued, the Cerritos College baseball team went on to post a 22-0 non-conference win over visiting West Los Angeles College on Thursday. The Falcons (20-4) will now host Chaffey College (16-6-1) in another non-conference game at Kincaid Field on Saturday at noon.

After a scoreless first inning, one in which the Falcons drew three walks, they exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the second inning. Sophomore outfielder Isaiah Rios (St. John Bosco HS) led off the stanza with a base hit, while a dropped fly ball off the bat of sophomore Nate Gardenswartz (Long Beach Wilson HS) put runners at second and third base. Freshman shortstop Jake Fowler (Los Alamitos HS) was walked to load the bases before freshman outfielder Owen Martin (Narbonne HS) drove in the first run of the inning with a walk. A sacrifice fly from sophomore outfielder Diego Orozco (Long Beach Wilson HS) was followed by RBI singles from sophomore third baseman Evan Saito (Torrance HS) and freshman designated hitter Brody Cuellar (Bishop Montgomery HS). That set the table for freshman first baseman Wyatt Ormonde (Long Beach Millikan HS), who blasted a no-doubt three-run home run to finish off the scoring in the inning.

Cerritos added three more runs in the third inning, which consisted of six walks, including consecutive bases loaded free passes to sophomore second baseman Dylan Immel (El Segundo HS), Rios and Gardenswartz.

Not to get lost in the offensive production by the Falcons was their pitching. Sophomore starter Noah Andrunas (Gahr HS/UC Riverside) improved to 8-0 after tossing five innings and allowed just one hit. He gave up a two-out single in the first inning and then retired the next 13 batters. In fact, the relief quartet of Lucas Scott (Long Beach Poly HS), Holden Hungerford (Warren HS/Cal State Los Angeles), Troy Sonoqui (Long Beach Millikan HS) and Nicholas Moreno (Katella HS) each retired all three batters they faced in their one inning, with the staff pitching just one over the minimum for the day.

The team added single runs in the fifth and seventh innings, thanks to sacrifice flies, while they put nine more in the board in the eighth inning. All but two batters in the stanza were replacement players, with Rios, sophomore catcher Ryan Reyes (Los Alamitos HS) and Fowler all slapping consecutive RBI singles. The first run of the inning came when freshman second baseman Israel Espinoza (Warren HS) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded after the Falcons received a pair of walks after freshman outfielder Tiery Smith (Los Alamitos HS) led off with a triple.

Smith walked in his second plate appearance of the inning, which loaded the bases once again. Freshman shortstop Fabian Ochoa (Warren HS) followed with a three-run double, while a single from freshman designated hitter Julian Arellano (Downey HS) rounded out the scoring.

Eleven different players had at least one hit, with Rios going 4-for-5 at the plate with a walk, two RBI and three runs scored, with Ormonde driving in four runs. Fowler was 2-for-3 at the plate with a pair of walks, two RBI and scored three times, with Orozco regaining the state lead in walks after drawing two more on the day and now has 39 for the year.

Photos by Daryl Peterson