Hancock College/s baseball team didn/t make a bunch of mistakes Wednesday. Cerritos didn/t need a bunch.

A pitch left too far out over the plate here, an error there 7 Cerritos took advantage of enough of the Bulldogs/ miscues to grab a 7-4 win at Hancock in the Hancock College Spring Classic.

"The teams in this tournament 7 there are no two-step gimmes in this tournament," Hancock coach Chris Stevens said after his team dropped to 13-9 and saw its three-game winning streak end.

"Teams here have records like 18-7. There/s a reason they/re 18-7."

The Falcons are actually 16-8, but you get Stevens/ drift. Cerritos is ranked 12th among Southern California junior college baseball teams, and the visitors lived up to their rating Wednesday.

Cerritos netted just seven runs on 19 hits, but Falcons hitters jumped on two-out Adam Campbell pitches in unfortunate locations the first two innings to give their team a 3-0 lead.

One of Campbell/s thigh high fastballs got too much of the inside part of the plate, and E.J. Powell smacked it for a single and the first run of the game in the first inning.

In the second inning, Campbell threw the same kind of two-out pitch to Jacob Ferris, and Ferris whacked it for a two-run double. Ferris hit a solo home run in the fifth inning, and he wound up with three hits and four runs batted in.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs mustered just eight hits against Cerritos starting pitcher Jason Cayton in Cayton/s eight innings of work.

"Their guy did a nice job," Stevens said. "He wasn/t going to give in to our hitters, he wasn/t going to leave a 1-0, 2-0 fastball over the plate for them to hit.

"He was going to stick to his corners, keep moving in and out, and that/s what he did."

Cayton struck out 10.

The Bulldogs played good defense for the most part. They turned two double plays, third baseman James Bendele saved a run with a leaping catch in the first inning and left fielder Jacob Roe made a sliding catch for an out in the fourth.

But Cerritos took advantage of the first of Bulldogs first baseman Adam Cole/s two errors by scoring three unearned runs in the sixth.

For all that, the Bulldogs stayed competitive most of the way. Cerritos throwing errors led to single unearned runs in the third and fourth innings, then Hancock catcher Eric Bowman/s second of two doubles brought in two runs in the sixth.

For all the hits the Falcons got, Campbell and Hancock reliever Jacob Kougl got enough key outs to help the Bulldogs stay close. Hancock still had hope when Kougl, who came in with two outs in the sixth, pitched a scoreless ninth.

Falcons reliever Jerome Fortin extinguished that hope and earned the save by pitching a perfect ninth.

Hancock plays La Habra at noon today at Hancock in its final tournament game. The tourney ends today, and all games begin at noon. The Falcons play at Cuesta today.

Cuesta 12, Cypress 7

SAN LUIS OBISPO 7 St. Joseph graduate Dustin Kelly hit two solo homers and tripled to help the Cougars (9-13) beat Cypress, ranked No. 4 in Southern California and the highest ranked team in the tournament.

Cuesta took control by scoring four runs in the seventh inning and four more in the eighth.

Stephen Green had three hits and drove in six runs for the Cougars. Mike Brown had four hits and an RBI for Cuesta.

High school

Baseball

Cabrillo 4, Nordhoff 3

VANDENBERG VILLAGE 7 The Conquistadores (10-8) won their final Northern Santa Barbara County Easter Tournament game with a run in the bottom of the seventh.

The Ojai-based Rangers fell to 2-11.

Matt Hansen had two hits for the Conquistadores, Britton Butterfield and Derek McCloud tripled, and Lydell Sargeant socked a solo home run in the first inning.

Jason Hansen came on in the sixth inning in relief of Evan Fields and earned the win. Fields struck out seven and allowed two hits in his five innings of work.

Atascadero 4, Righetti 3

ATASCADERO 7 The Greyhounds (5-1 PAC-5 League) handed the Warriors (4-3) their third consecutive loss. No further details were available at press time.

Golf

SLO 408, Righetti 410

Medalist Daniel Miller shot a 72 for Righetti, but the Tigers edged the Warriors in a PAC-5 League dual meet at the Santa Maria Country Club.

Teammates following Miller were Jordan Jacobs (79); Kyle Waterbury (86); John Blair Biegel (86); and Eric Barnard (87). Mike Blodgett led San Luis Obispo with a 76.

April 08, 2004