After losing a game in extra innings, the baseball team rebounded by pounding on Los Angeles City College, 9-5 splitting the two games on the road.
Now, before heading out on another road trip, the team must defend its turf, as it will host three consecutive home games.
The team’s first battle is today at 2 p.m. against East L.A. College followed by a Saturday match-up at noon as it plays Mt. San Antonio.
“These are all important games. They won’t make or break us, but we just need to win in order to get back on track,” coach Tom Bergeron said.
EC will finish the home stretch Tuesday as it hosts L.A. Harbor College at 2 p.m.
With its most recent win, the Warriors now possess an overall record of 6-6, 2-1 in conference play.
“We had some bad breaks and were disappointed coming back home,” Bergeron said.
Despite the team being out hit by L.A. City, the Warriors managed to tally on nine runs on only five hits. Bobby Nunn helped the team, as he had a base-clearing double in the fourth inning, driving in three. Shane Cauley added a single and two RBIs as well.
The Warriors also had three squeezed bunts in that game.
“It’s a disappointing win. We should have hit the ball better,” Bergeron said. “At this moment, we’re just not as productive as we know we can be.”
The combo of EC pitchers allowed only a total of seven hits. Craig Ganser started the game pitching four innings only allowing two runs, while the bullpen did all it could allowing a mere three runs.
“We’re struggling as a team,” Nunn said. “We were able to put some bunts down when we needed; our pitching was good, but we still need to improve on on offense.”
EC suffered its first conference loss Saturday against Cerritos College, 2-1, on two questionable calls late in extra innings, which helped edge out the Warriors.
The Warriors were trailing late in the game, but were able to tie it up when sophomore Billy Hernandez hit a solo home run in the sixth inning to help send the game into extra innings.
EC had an abundance of opportunities to score runs, but was not able to capitilize as it left the bases loaded in the 11th inning with no outs.
Cerritos, however, was able to capitalize on two controversial calls by the umpire, both coming in the 11th inning.
The missed call at first base followed by a batter being hit eventually led to a play at the plate, in which the Falcons’ runner was called safe on a debatable call.
“The runner who scored shouldn’t even have been on base,” Bergeron said. “The play at second and the play at home weren’t even close; it was a disputable call.”
The loss at Cerritos snapped EC’s four- game winning streak, while the win helped Cerritos maintain a one game lead over Long Beach City in the conference.
The Warriors are currently tied for third place in the conference along with East L.A. and L.A. Harbor.
EC seeks to start a new winning streak with the three upcoming games, but in order to get back on pace, the team needs to improve its offense.
Some believe this team has not reached its full potential as it has not been swinging the bats as well as it knows how.
“It’s paralysis with analysis,” Bergeron said. “We’re thinking too much and not reacting on time.”
“We do need a lot of work to get back on track,” Nunn said. “We just have to handle business at home as we usually do and we should be fine.”
