By Noe Ortega
Baseball lost its first conference game at home against Cerritos College on Thursday,7-5.
The Huskies were winning for the majority of the game but a strong eighth inning from Cerritos was enough to hand East Los Angeles College its first loss in the South Coast Conference-North play.
“We made bad pitches on the mount. We also made some good pitches that they found a way to put in play and get base hits on. We had opportunities to get the inning stopped and we didn’t but that’s the way it goes,” ELAC head coach James Hines said.
ELAC was shut out in the first two innings, until the bottom of the third inning.
Sophomore third baseman Oscar Osorio hit the ball toward center field and got a Run Batted In double so that sophomore right fielder Matthew Sosa could score the first run for ELAC.
“ We could’ve won the game. We came out to the dugout wanting to score more runs and take the lead. We had a bunch of opportunities to score, but we didn’t,” Sosa said.
Sophomore infielder Gabriel Figueroa hit a sacrifice ball toward right field that was caught, but allowed Osorio to run in from third base and score to make it 2-1 for the Huskies.
In the fifth inning, ELAC doubled its lead off a fly ball that went towards center field from freshman first baseman Bryan Duenas and brought home Sosa to make it 3-1.
Sophomore pitcher Zech Jarrad pitched for six innings, facing 26 batters, eight hits and had two earned runs.
One of the two hits that Jarrad allowed was a home run from Cerritos sophomore outfielder Nick Penzetta in the top of the third.
However ELAC freshman pitcher Andres Alonso took the loss, after coming in for Jarrad in the top of the seventh inning.
Alonso struck out three of the ten batters he faced, but allowed six hits and four earned runs in Cerritos best inning.
“ Sometimes these guys just think that if they throw it harder I’ll get it by this guy but they don’t understand that the guy just needs to get the barrel on it and it can go over the infielders head, going out to the outfield for a base hit,” Hines said.
In the top of the seventh inning, Cerritos freshman outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez hit a single RBI that brought home freshman first baseman Michael Gonzalez and cut the lead by one run.
Cerritos continued to play aggressive in the top of the eighth after freshman first baseman Roberto Salazar hit a RBI double that brought home sophomore right fielder Rollie Nichols to tie the game.
“ We told them to stay in the game. ELAC was playing really well. I don’t think we pitched well but we told them to swing together some hits and that’s what we were able to do,” Cerritos head coach Ken Gaylord said.
Cerritos sophomore outfielder Nick Penzetta hit a RBI single where Michael Gonzalez scored Cerritos fourth run and regained the lead.
Alonso came off the mount and was switched with ELAC freshman pitcher Paul Kosanovich.
Kosanovich went up against Gabriel Gonzalez who hit a double with two RBI’s where Penzetta and freshman outfielder Gabriel Jaime, who came in as pinch runner for Salazar, scored, and made it 6-3.
Sophomore shortstop Ramon Bramasco ended Cerritos best inning with a RBI Double to bring home Gabriel Gonzalez, and make it 7-3.
“ We made some good pitches during the game, especially when some of the relievers came in, but we also made some bad pitches with regards to location but it’s part of the game. It ends up happening in the most inopportune times. They took advantage of it and that’s what they’re supposed to do. So we end up paying the price with an inning that good,” Hines said.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, ELAC attempted to comeback after Sosa hit a two RBI double that brought home freshman infielder Grant Victor and sophomore outfielder Anthony Soto to make the score 7-5.
ELAC and Cerritos faced off last Saturday in their second conference game at Cerritos. Cerritos won 3-0.
The Huskies played at Long Beach City College yesterday and suffered its fifth consecutive loss in a close game, 5-4.
ELAC’s next game will be tomorrow at 6 p.m. against Long Beach at home.