Nine Falcons drove in at least one run as the Cerritos baseball team ran away from College of the Canyons, 26-4 Saturday in the South Coast Conference Invitational at Kincaid Field.

Outfielder Kalen Norton, who drove in six runs, said, “That’s what we needed today, since we lost yesterday,

“We needed some big runs. We needed to come together offensively.”

The Falcons batted around four times, and led 15-0 after four innings.

With Cerritos leading 17-0 in the top of the sixth, the Cougars broke through with four runs.

The Falcons answered with six runs in their half of the inning, and three more in the seventh.

“I just wanted to win, that’s all,” said Norton, who hit a home run in the third inning and a triple in the seventh.

“And that’s what it took. Stick the ball. That’s it.”

Earlier in the day, the Falcons defeated L.A. Valley 15-3, and Friday the Falcons dropped their opener to Cuesta, 7-3.

Outfielder Ruben Salazar, who drove in three runs, said, “Even though we lost we didn’t get whooped.

“We came back and scored.

“So that just shows the character we have, and today we played like Birds are supposed to play.”

Norton added, “We have a chance to win the tournament tomorrow because we scored a lot of runs, and we won both our games.”

But the team fell one run short against Glendale and lost 5-4 in 10 innings Sunday.

In the fifth inning, Glendale scored three runs off the Falcons (2-2) as five of the first six batters reached base.

Cerritos came back with two runs in the seventh inning, and tied the game in the ninth when Thomas Bruce singled in Carl Johnson from third.

Glendale won the game in the tenth inning when Brandon Bell singled in pinch runner Marcus Griffin.

The Falcons left eight runners on base, five in scoring position.

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