Rustlers Come from Behind to Win 6-4, Complete Sweep

Huntington Beach, Calif. - The Golden West College (4-4) baseball team fought back from giving up four runs in the first inning to beat Cerritos College (2-5) 6-4 and complete the three-game sweep.

The falcons were able to take advantage of a couple errors and a balk to take an early 4-0 lead. The Rustlers would respond with a run in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a two-out double by Junior Aguilar (3 for 4, 3 RBI) to make it 4-1. All was quiet until the Rustler offense was able to manufacture a run in the bottom of the fifth inning. With two hit by pitches and walk Jeremiah Vison would hit into a fielder's choice, scoring Nick Tingrides (2 for 3, 3 runs scored) from third base to cut the lead in half, 4-2.

Then the offense came alive in the bottom of the seventh inning as Tingrides would leadoff with a single and immediately steal second base. Chris Rodriguez would reach on error committed by the falcons third basemen. Two batters later Louie Conjura (2 for 4, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI) crushed a double to left center field that would score Tingrides and set up runners at second and third base. With the speedy Vison coming to the plate, head coach Villarreal called for a safety squeeze but Rodriguez was called out on a very close play at the plate to keep the score at 4-3 with two outs. After a hit by pitch, Aguilar would come through in the clutch with a two out, two RBI single that gave the Rustlers the lead for the first time in the game 5-4. The offense would add an insurance run in the bottom of the eigth inning to extend the lead 6-4.

A flawless defensive effort combined with the stellar bullpen work of Kenny Carrillo (6.2IP, 4 hits, 2 walks, 4K's), Ryan Lether (1.0IP, 1K), and Andrew Pactwa (1.0IP, 1k) led to the comeback win for the Rustlers.

NEXT: The Rustlers will travel to Bakersfield for a three-game series starting Thursday Feb. 16.