College Baseball:

As the second to final week of the 2024 regular season got underway, Cerritos College was in cruise control.

The No. 1 ranked program in the state had South Coast Conference series sweeps over LA Harbor, El Camino and Mt. SAC.

The Falcons also secured 2-1 SCC series wins over Rio Hondo and East Los Angles College.

Cerritos would continue their command atop the SCC standings with Tuesday’s 12-5 victory over PCC at Brookside Park.

In many ways, it was the No. 1 ranked program in the state against a Lancers team that was uncertain about their postseason chances.

PCC would edge Cerritos, 2-1, on Thursday, behind the arms of Jameson Ferraro and Ben Griffith.

And then came Saturday’s rubber match at Brookside Park.

The Falcons would take a 3-0 lead into the sixth inning.

But the Lancers got three in the bottom half of the sixth, one more in the seventh, and they went on to claim a 4-3 victory.

PCC becomes the first team in 2024 to win a three-game series against Cerritos, and that includes SCC and nonconference games.

And their resume now includes victories over the No. 1 (Cerritos) and No. 2 teams (Golden West) in the state.

A pair of former Pasadena High pitchers, Joe Bacon and Ben Griffith, teamed up on the mound to put PCC in a promising position to earn a postseason berth.

Bacon went five innings, and he allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits.

Bacon issued just one walk and struck out three Cerritos batters.

And then comes Griffith.

Two days prior, he entered Thursday’s game in the ninth inning at Cerritos College with two on and no outs.

Griffith retired the side to secure a 2-1 PCC victory.

On Saturday, Griffith went four scoreless and hitless innings to earn the win.

DJ Massey tripled and scored two runs.

Alfonso Reyes walked, scored and had an RBI fielder’s choice.

Isaiah Rios went 2-for-3, with a walk, and his RBI single in the top of the fifth gave the Falcons a 3-0 lead.

Marco Lopez singled twice in a losing cause.

Myles Johnson got the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits over 6 1/3 innings.

He walked one and fanned six PCC batters.

Calix Armijo got the final five outs for the Falcons without a hit, walk or strikeout.

Bryan Richman went 2-for-3 from the leadoff spot.

Richman scored and his RBI sac fly in the bottom of the seventh gave PCC a 4-3 lead.

Jack Esguerra had three more base hits on Saturday.

Adrian Roman had an RBI single in the sixth to get the Lancers on the board.

Here’s where the fun starts.

With runners on second and third and two out, Evan Nahra, who reached base on a fielder’s choice, sprinted home on a wild pitch that got approximately 10 feet behind the catcher.

Nahra and Johnson collided at the plate.

Nahra’s slide kicked the ball out of the pitcher’s glove so far that Roman scored from second base and the game was tied at 3-3.

On the play at the plate, Johnson shoved Nahra as soon as he stood up, so that he could chase after the ball.

But by the time Johnson was able to secure the baseball, Roman scored without any real drama.

Ivan Barragan walked, singled and he scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Tyler Garcia had one hit for the Lancers.

PCC has finished the SCC portion of their schedule, and they’ll battle Chaffey, San Bernardino and Palomar in the final week of the regular season.

All three are road games.

As for the Falcons, Cerritos needs just one win in their three-game set with second-place Long Beach to cement a South Coast Conference championship.

Mt. SAC is riding an SCC-best eight-game win streak, and they could help PCC greatly if they were to win two of three over El Camino next week.

Quotable:

PCC coach, Pat McGee: “We’ve struggled in Tuesday games and then we play well on Thursday’s and Saturday’s, and it carried over this week as well.  Joe (Bacon) did what he always does, which is giving us a chance to win. And what can I say about Ben (Griffith)? He got us out of a jam on Thursday and then he went four scoreless and hitless innings today. I’m really proud of the guys, because they’re playing up to our expectations. Evan Nahra’s aggressive base running allowed two runs to score on one pitch, and he deserves a lot of credit for reading the ball the way he did. We still need wins next week to secure ourselves a spot in the playoffs.”

PCC sophomore, Evan Nahra: “The mindset going into Thursday’s game was that of confidence, because we had Jameson on the mound, and he pitched like an ace pitches. Going into today, we knew we were facing another good pitcher, but we were hungry. Coach McGee said it’s whatever we want to do with our opportunities, and we really wanted it. We saw flashes of Ben Griffith doing some big things last year and him becoming a really good reliever. Ben had a rocky start this year, but he came through in the two biggest opportunities of his college career and we’re all so happy for him.

(Regarding Nahra’s scoring on the wild pitch) Right when I got to third base, I had gotten there on a wild pitch. Coach Allyn told me to anticipate a wild pitch and to be aggressive if he thought I could make it. If the pitcher caught the ball, I’m probably out, but I was really aggressive, and it ended up working out. Right when I scored, I stood up right away, and the pitcher started shoving me out of the way, and I turned to see where Adrian was, and he was just a couple steps past the third base bag. And when he scored, our dugout went nuts.”

Box Score:
C: 2-0-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-(3)
P: 0-0-0-0-0-3-1-0-X-(4)

Win: Ben Griffith
Loss: Myles Johnson

3B: DJ Massey

Saturday’s SCC Scores:
Rio Hondo 16, ELAC 9
Long Beach 9, Compton 5 (11)
Mt. SAC 12, LA Harbor 5
PCC 4, Cerritos 3

SCC Standings:
Cerritos (30-7, 17-4)
Long Beach (26-11, 15-6)
Mt. SAC (25-12, 14-7)
PCC (21-16, 13-11)
El Camino (20-17, 11-10)
ELAC (16-20-1, 8-13)
Compton (13-23, 8-13)
Rio Hondo (11-26, 7-14)
LA Harbor (13-24, 3-18)

Mt. SAC’s Remaining Schedule:
4/23: MSAC at El Camino
4/25: El Camino at MSAC
4/26: MSAC at El Camino

PCC’s Remaining Schedule:
4/22: PCC at Chaffey
4/24: PCC at SBVC
4/27: PCC at Palomar