Lara, Morton power Rio Hondo past Cerritos for SCC win

WHITTIER — Noah Lara drove in two runs with a second-inning single and Mario Morton hit a solo home run in the third as Rio Hondo College snapped a losing skid with a 6-4 South Coast Conference victory over Cerritos College on Thursday at The Jungle.

The Roadrunners jumped on starter Nolan Patterson early, sending seven batters to the plate in the second inning. After Danyal Jenkins walked and stole second, Nicholas Gonzales singled him home to tie the game at 1-1. Lara followed two batters later with a two-run single, scoring Gonzales and Nathan Sena to give Rio Hondo a 3-1 lead. Morton's homer in the third made it 4-1.

Cerritos crept back into it. CJ Berthon, who went 3 for 4, tripled and scored on an Andrew Perez groundout in the third to cut the deficit to 4-2. Then in the seventh, Berthon crushed a two-run home run off reliever Gabriel Lizarraga to knot the game at 4.

Rio Hondo answered immediately. In the bottom of the seventh, Lara singled and scored on an Anthony Baez sacrifice fly — aided by a throwing error from the Cerritos pitcher — to reclaim the lead at 5-4. Diego Helguera then added an insurance run in the eighth with an RBI single that scored Jenkins, who had doubled to lead off the inning.

Marcus Mayweather started and struck out five over five innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits. E.J. Felix (2-1) earned the win in relief with one-third of an inning of scoreless work. Dominic Elias threw a clean eighth, and Christian Ortega closed it out in the ninth for his first save of the season, working around two walks to strand the potential tying run.

Lara finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a stolen base. Jenkins went 1 for 3 with two walks, two runs scored and a stolen base. 

Rio Hondo improved to 7-23 overall and 3-11 in conference play.