After two, hard-fought at bats by the Warriors, the bases were loaded with two outs in the 10th inning. Down by one run, a ground-out to the pitcher ended the game and El Camino’s baseball team failed to comeback with its back against the wall for the second time in the game.
“These guys do fight, they battle,” coach Nate Fernley said. “We put ourselves in position to win that game and it just didn’t go our way.”
After coming back to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, the Warriors fell behind in the 10th inning and were unable to come through again in the 4-3 extra-inning loss to Cerritos College on Saturday.
“In the end we couldn’t get the last hit and they did and they executed when they needed too.” Fernley added.
Warriors’ freshman starting pitcher Taylor Rashi had a solid outing pitching seven innings, giving up two runs on three hits, and struck out nine batters.
“My arm felt good,” Rashi said. “I was just trying to get things done from the team, we needed a big win and it was a tough loss.”
Rashi finished the game retiring eight straight batters and struck out the side in the top half of the seventh to finish his day.
“He did a really good job, mixed pitches and kept us in it,” Fernley said. “He wasn’t feeling very well but he came out and executed pitches.”
Sophomore left fielder Jonathan Pasillas drove in two runs, tying the game in the ninth inning with an RBI single with two outs. Pasillas just missed a home run in the seventh. Noah Barba opened up the scoring with a RBI double in the third inning and is now batting .375 in conference.
“I’ve been feeling good these last couple weeks,” Barba said. “I’m seeing the ball well and today I got a pitch I could hit and hit it hard.”
With Cerritos (22-11, 14-4) completing the sweep, the Warriors (21-10, 12-6) have now lost three in a row for just the second time this season.
“We’re still in the hunt here,” Fernley said. “Our goal is to win a state championship and we still have a chance to do that.”
