Community College Baseball Championship : Cerritos Starts Off Fast, Finishes Off Canyons

As championship games go, Wednesday’s Community College state final was no classic. There were no clutch home runs or spectacular, run-saving defensive plays in the late innings.

The fact of the matter is that Wednesday’s community college state tournament final between Cerritos College and College of the Canyons was basically over even before many of the 600 fans at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Field had settled into their seats.

Everything after the first inning, when Cerritos scored five times off Canyons’ ace Frank Halcovich, was anticlimactic. The Falcons went on to a 14-3 victory to clinch their seventh state title, their first since 1979.

The schools were originally scheduled to play Sunday at Fresno, but the game was rained out, giving the Cougars’ exhausted pitching staff three days rest.

But the rest didn’t seem to help as Cerritos, which had struggled offensively in its three previous tournament wins, touched up six Canyons pitchers for 12 hits, three by third baseman Craig Worthington.

George Horton, Cerritos’ first-year coach, said the time off may have even hurt the Cougars.

“I know their pitchers were tired, but they really were on a roll in Fresno,” Horton said. “They had won three straight in the loser’s bracket, and when you’re playing well, you forget how tired you might be.

“I think the three days off took away from their momentum.”

Left-hander John Rodriguez had struggled of late for Cerritos (39-5), but he had one of his best games of the season against Canyons (31-15). He pitched a complete game and allowed only six hits in improving his record to 8-1.

“My problem has been a lack of confidence mainly, but Coach Horton showed a lot of confidence in using me, and that helped my confidence,” Rodriguez said. “With the wait between games, he could have used someone else, but he stayed with me. That made me feel good.”

Rodriguez was particularly effective against Canyons’ power hitters, Don Erickson, Bill Bluhm and Halcovich, who were a combined 0 for 12.

Losing pitcher Halcovich (8-5), who allowed only three runs to Cerritos in 7 innings Friday when the Falcons beat the Cougars, 5-4, in a second-round game, lasted only one inning Wednesday.

The damage done by Cerritos in the first was considerable, and the Falcons were on their way to their fourth victory in five meetings against Canyons.

Ron Ewart, who ended a 1 for 12 slump with two hits and three walks, singled with one out and took second when Worthington was hit by a Halcovich pitch.

After Bob Esquerra struck out, Halcovich walked Scott Wilkinson to load the bases, and Quinn Mack followed with a line single to left-center to give Cerritos a 2-0 lead.

Halcovich, who usually has excellent control, then walked Tony Trevino to load the bases again, and shortstop Ever Magallanes hit a slicing drive between Canyons left fielder Rocco Buffolino and center fielder Tony Ciccone.

When Ciccone finally got the ball to the infield, three runs had scored, Magallanes was on third base with a triple and Canyons trailed, 5-0.

Gillespie, whose team won the state title in 1981 and 1983, said, “We obviously would have liked to have given a better account of ourselves in a championship game. But I think we did well just getting as far as we did.

“We feel bad right now, but we won’t for long because Cerritos is a fine team, an outstanding team with no weaknesses. They certainly deserve the championship.”

Horton, whose team won the tough South Coast Conference by six games and was 4-0 in the tournament, agreed.

“These guys do deserve it,” he said. “They are a veteran team that carried a rookie coach. This season will be a very tough act to follow.”

Cerritos wasn’t content to rest on its early lead Wednesday. Ahead 6-1 after four innings, the Falcons scored twice more in the fifth and four times in the sixth to make it 12-1.

The key hits in the seventh were RBI doubles by Worthington and Trevino.

Canyons got bases-empty home runs by Bill Carlson in the seventh and pinch-hitter Chris Cota, in the ninth, which wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the Falcons’ lead.

“You start in the winter with practice, and you put in so many hours over the course of the season,” Horton said. “Winning a championship makes it all worthwhile.”