The Cerritos College baseball team dropped their 11th loss of the season, 3-1 at its home game against Long Beach City on Mar. 8.

Freshman Gael Esparza started the game for the Falcons and was also the losing pitcher dropping his record to 0-1.

Esparza tossed 4 1/3 innings giving up three runs on six hits, four walks, and a costly three balls.

Coach Gaylord said about Esparza’s performance, “He broke down mentally a couple times.”

LBCC struck first in the second inning when outfielder Devan Schermerhorn singled up the middle to score first baseman Manny De La Rosa.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, both teams were tied when Cerritos’ infielder Cesar Castillo grounded out to third baseman Justin Moore, scoring outfielder Evan Sanchez.

By the fifth inning, the Falcons couldn’t hold down LBCC as the Vikings’ shortstop Avery Flores scored on a ball by pitcher Gael Esparza, getting in two more runs.

The Vikings added another run when second baseman Nate Alcafaras singled to left field, scoring Daniel Catalan.

Head Coach Ken Gaylord then brought in freshman pitcher Christian Price who tossed 3 2/3 shout out innings while striking out three batters.

Cerritos was unable to figure out Long Beach pitcher Jake Angus who tossed 7 2/3 innings, giving up only one run while striking out seven batters.

Sophomore outfielder Christian Esparza shared his thoughts on what the team needs to do to avoid being swept by LBCC.

“Play with heart and come out with heart.

Today we battled, we did as much as we could but again we have to play all nine innings, have heart and play as a team.”

With the loss, the Falcons record is now 3-11 and 0-2 in the conference.

The Falcons play the final game of the three game series against Long Beach City College on Mar. 10 at Joe Hicks Field at noon.