Behind a historic day at the plate from Jose Perez and a dominant relief outing by Jake Fowler, Cerritos College rallied past Taft College, 6-5, in a back-and-forth non conference matchup.
Perez powered the Falcons' offense with two home runs and six RBI, accounting for all of Cerritos' scoring in the victory. His biggest swing came in the bottom of the third inning, when he launched a grand slam to left field to give Cerritos an early 4-0 lead.
Taft responded in the middle innings, capitalizing on timely hitting and a few Falcon miscues. The Cougars got on the board in the fourth before scoring four runs in the fifth inning to give Taft a 5-4 advantage.
Cerritos answered immediately in the bottom half of the fifth. Tyler Peshke tripled to spark the inning and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Perez, tying the game at 5-5. The Falcons regained the lead for good in the seventh inning when Perez delivered again, crushing his second home run of the day - a solo shot to left field - to put Cerritos ahead, 6-5.
On the mound, Nolan Patterson got the start for Cerritos, allowing five runs (four earned) over 4.1 innings. Fowler (2-1) was outstanding in relief, tossing 4.2 shutout innings while scattering six hits and striking out four to secure the win.
Offensively, Cerritos collected 10 hits, with CJ Berthon leading the way with a perfect 4-for-4 performance. Peshke added two hits and scored twice, while Andrew Perez chipped in a hit and a run scored.
