The Pasadena City College baseball team scored in a variety of ways Thursday as the Lancers held off Cerritos College, 7-4, in a South Coast Conference game at Brookside Park's Jackie Robinson Field. PCC evened its series with the Falcons, 1-1, its conference record at 4-4, and overall mark at 10-10.
The Lancers were again led by the mighty bat of sophomore third baseman Marco Martinez, who drove in runs in each of his first three at bats, all lethal swings. In the first inning, as some 20 photographers were clicking away on their cameras for a newspaper workshop, Martinez was a perfect photo-oppo as he promptly ripped his second home run of the season, an opposite field blast over the right field fence for a 1-0 PCC lead.
After leftfielder Aryonis Harrison drew a walk to lead off the third inning, Harrison took off in a hit-and-run as Martinez lined a shot base hit to center field. Harrison raced the circuit and made a head-first slide into home for PCC's second run. A few batters later, frosh designated hitter Thomas Kolling pounded a drive off the right field fence for a long single and a 3-0 advantage. Then, with the bases loaded, catcher Jaren Surdo dropped a perfect squeeze bunt that brought in a sliding Tai Walton to up the ante to 4-0.
In the fourth, the lead increased to 5-0. Centerfielder Darren Hunter II lined a double to left, was moved over to third on a bunt by Harrison, and Martinez again delivered with another line single to center for the run.
The Falcons whittled away the PCC lead and cut it to 5-4 going into the bottom of the seventh. In that frame, the Lancers added two more insurance runs with help from the Falcons defense. PCC had runners on first and second when a failed pickoff attempt advanced shortstop Jacob Ogle to third and pinch hitter Gabe Arellano to second. Inserted second baseman Erik Lewis placed a RBI single into right that scored Ogle while also plating Arellano when the rightfielder's throw took a bounce past the catcher for the second error in two plays by Cerritos.
PCC's pitchers did their job as sophomore starter Benny Olguin finally picked up his first victory of the 2020 season. Olguin pitched six innings, allowing four hits, three runs, two walks while striking out four. He was followed by letterman reliever Benny Torres (one inning, one run) and sophomore Cody Crowder, who pitched two clutch shutout innings for his first save.
Martinez, who was 3-for-5, continues to impress as he raised he state-leading on-base percentage to .598, 18 points above the No. 2 player and 44 points ahead of the next SoCal region hitter. The All-American upped his batting average to .413 (second in the South Coast Conference) and his 22 RBI tops SCC batters. He also is tied for the state lead in walks with 25. Kolling, batting .375, is second in the conference in RBI with 20 and his 30 hits leads all SCC batters. He went 2-for-4, but stung the ball all day including his near homer, a double, and a line out to short. Lewis was 2-for-2 off the bench.
On Tuesday at Cerritos, the Lancers held a 2-0 lead before the Falcons rallied for two in the ninth to send it to extra innings. In the 11th, PCC grabbed a 5-2 lead only to see Cerritos again rally, this time for four runs in a 6-5 loss for Pasadena. Cerritos centerfielder Buck Anderson hit a walk-off, bases loaded single for the winning RBI. Ryan Graves pitched brilliantly for the Lancers as he fired seven innings of 5-hit shutout ball with two walks and three Ks. Martinez was 2-for-4 and Walton 2-for-6 with two RBI.
PCC and Cerritos play their rubber match of the 3-game series on Saturday, Mar. 7 in Norwalk at 12 noon. The two teams are in a 3-way tie with Rio Hondo for third place in the South Coast standings (all 4-4). Long Beach City College leads the SCC at 8-0 and El Camino is right behind the Vikings in second at 7-1. The conference season is at the one-third mark of a 24-game schedule.