“It's amazing, I love this,” said Dane McLaughlin about batting in the leadoff position for the Hancock Bulldogs. “I've never done that at all in my life.”

The sophomore from Arroyo Grande reached base on all four plate appearances and scored a run in the pivotal sixth inning, as Hancock defeated Cerritos 5-4 at John Osborne Field in a Hancock Spring Classic game Wednesday afternoon.

Hancock (11-14) snapped a six-game losing streak with the win. Cerritos, who defeated Fresno on Tuesday at Elks Field, fell to 17-10.

“I've been struggling a little bit so I got the chance to see more fastballs and I liked it,” explained McLaughlin. “I just knew I was going to get more fastballs and I had to be ready to hit.”

Hancock coach Chris Stevens liked what he saw from his new leadoff man.

“We will continue to leave him there,” Stevens said. “Statistically he's had better lead off numbers since getting out of the three-spot, so instead of being a run producer with RBIs, we're trying to get him to score runs.”

The experiment paid off immediately for the Bulldogs. McLaughlin hit the second pitch of the game for a single. Trying to make something happen, Stevens sent him on a 2-2 pitch to Chad Conrad in a hit and run. Unfortunately, Conrad hit a line drive right to the shortstop who was moving toward second base.

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Dave Anderson, the new number three hitter then singled, stole second and scored on two wild pitches by Cerritos starter John Ortega.

The Falcons scored off of Hancock starter Bryn Calhoun after he loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batter. With bases-loaded and one out, Calhoun escaped allowing just the one run.

Both pitchers settled down until Cerritos scored a single run in the fifth. From the second through the forth Calhoun allowed two hits and one walk, while Ortega faced one above the minimum from the second through the fifth.

The only base runner for Hancock in that portion of the game was McLaughlin, who reached on an error in the third.

The Falcons run in the fifth was unearned. Anthony Topete led off the inning reaching on an error by Jonathan Ramirez. He was sacrificed to second and following a two-out walk to Trevor Blood, scored on a single by George Sanchez.

Mario Romero scored the third Cerritos run in the sixth inning after he singled with one out, moved to third on a single and a fielder's choice, then scored on a single by Jerry Pena.

McLaughlin started the sixth with his second single of the game and scored when Conrad doubled into right-center. Conrad was sacrificed to third, then scored on a fielder's choice hit by Taylor Stiles. Conrad scored when the throw by the first baseman went over the catcher's head. Stiles reached second on the overthrow.

Stiles then scored the go-ahead run on a single by David Harman, giving Hancock a 4-3 lead.

Joel Paz started the seventh in relief of Calhoun and surrendered an unearned run set up by a lead-off walk to Sanchez. Sanchez was sacrificed to second and moved to third on a pitch in the dirt that bounced in front of the catcher Stiles. Trying to cut down Sanchez at third, Stiles threw the ball past third baseman Corey Dotzler allowing Sanchez to score.

But AHC was able to answer right back and scored the eventual winning run in the bottom of the inning. Ramirez singled to lead off the inning. After he stole second, McLaughlin drew a walk. They were both moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Conrad and, with the infield in, Anderson singled, scoring Ramirez.

Paz fought through two Bulldog errors in the eighth, getting Blood to fly out deep into left for the final out of the inning. He faced one batter in the ninth, then Logan Huskey came in to face the final two batters, preserving the win for Paz.

“Bryn Calhoun had a competitive start - certainly not his best stuff - but he grinded through it,” Stevens said as he talked about his pitchers. “Joel Paz came up and had some big moments in the game, he did a great job.

“And Huskey, he's kind of our quasi-closer when we can't get to Jannis. We used Jannis yesterday and he threw 41 pitches.”

Stevens was glad to see a three-run inning by the Bulldogs, but more importantly, he liked what they did the following inning.

“We talked a lot yesterday about not having had a big inning in a long time,” Stevens explained. “A lot of college games are won by teams that get themselves big innings. We got one today and it certainly gives a team some momentum in the dugout and on the defensive side.

“And I think it was critical then to come back the following inning with another run - That's taking the momentum.”

Stevens is hoping the win against a good team will help the Bulldogs get back to their winning ways.

“Offensively we've been down and I think most teams go through that,” he said. “If nothing else, maybe this will spur us on a bit.

“We had better approaches at the plate and we've been talking about that. The kids have been responding - they stuck with the game plan today and fortunately it worked out for us.”

Hancock hosts Canyons at noon today. The Cougars defeated Fresno 3-1 Wednesday at Elks. Cerritos plays at Cuesta. The Cougars fell 6-3 to L.A. Harbor.

March 20, 2008