Dons Leave Two Stranded as Rally Falls Short in 4-3 Loss to Cerritos
The Dons had runners at second and third with two outs in the ninth before a ground out ended their rally.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
|
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0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
SANTA ANA - After struggling offensively through most of the game, the Dons seemed poised to claim their second walk-off win at home this season. But the Cerritos College Falcons had other plans as the Falcons induced back-to-back ground outs to end the Dons late rally and win the game 4-3.
Trailing 4-2 going to the bottom of the ninth, the Dons got a single and a walk with one out to start a rally. On the walk, a Cerritos throwing error put Troy Baird in scoring position. Garret Brown followed with a single to left field, scoring Baird to cut the Falcons lead to 4-3.
However, with the go-ahead run at second base, Cerritos closer Dylan Algra induced another ground out to end the Dons threat.
Cerritos built its lead with a sacrifice fly in the first inning before scoring a pair of runs in the fourth inning on a suicide squeeze bunt and a RBI-single. The two runs in the fourth gave the Falcons a 3-1 lead as the Dons also scored on a sacrifice fly, with theirs coming in the second inning.
After the Dons scored in seventh on a RBI-single by Brown following a pair of wild pitches, the Falcons got the run back in the eighth on a RBI-single by Jose Romero to make the score 4-2, setting up the ninth inning.
Jared Robinson (2-2), who also went 1-for-4 as the designated hitter, picked up the win for Cerritos as held the Dons to three runs, two earned, on seven hits in 8.1 innings. Algra came in to pick up his first save of the season by recording the final two outs. For the Dons, Kevin Clementi (0-1) took the loss after allowing three runs on six hits in six innings.
