Community College Baseball Regionals : Cypress Out of Playoff Picture With Second Loss to Cerritos

Cypress College was eliminated from the Southern California Regional baseball playoffs Sunday, but not easily.

Todd Guggiana’s two-out single in the bottom of the 13th inning scored Hector Casillas from third base for the winning run, as Cerritos defeated Cypress, 3-2, at Cerritos to advance to the state tournament May 27-29 at UC Irvine.

Cerritos’ Steve Vernola scattered 11 hits, struck out 9 and gave up 2 runs in 13 innings. Vernola, a sophomore from Gahr High School, threw 164 pitches and retired the final five hitters.

“I felt strong the entire game,” Vernola said. “This is by far the best I’ve thrown this year. I was in command all day long.”

Cypress (34-11) won its opening-round game Friday, but lost to Cerritos, 6-2, in 10 innings Saturday. In its next game, Cypress had to rally after trailing against El Camino, 8-4. Cypress scored six runs in the seventh inning before eventually winning, 11-8, to advance to the championship game against Cerritos.

The Chargers had to win two games against Cerritos Sunday or face elimination.

Cypress trailed, 1-0, but scored two runs in the fifth on a two-run single by Jeff Yates that scored Ken Briggs and Paul Bunch. The Chargers had a chance to win in the 12th, but Vernola struck out Rod DeYoung with runners at second and third to end the threat.

Cerritos (37-11), the defending state champion, tied the score in the fifth when Rod Benjamin scored from second base after Cypress shortstop DeYoung misplayed a grounder.

Cerritos stranded 15 runners in scoring position off two Cypress pitchers. Starter Kevin Bumgarner looked sharp giving up two runs and 10 in 7 innings. He struck out four.

Ben Gonzales (11-3) came in for Bumgarner in the eighth. Gonzales, a sophomore right-hander, had pitched a complete-game victory Friday against El Camino. He pitched five innings before giving up the winning hit to Guggiana in the 13th.

“The pitching today was outstanding,” said Scott Pickler, Cypress coach. “The game could have gone either way. We missed a lot of opportunities, but give Cerritos credit, they earned it.”