Soccer player selected to US U-20 national team

Ruben Gonzalez

Cerritos College forward Ruben Gonzalez has been selected to the United States under-20 national squad.

The freshman is currently on loan with Chivas USA Academy.  In his first year as a Falcon, Gonzalez recorded seven goals and four assists.

The US under-20 national team is currently competing in the Dallas Cup, which runs until Sunday if it reaches the finals.

“We are very honored for Ruben to be representing our college at the highest of levels,” head coach Benny Artiaga said.

“I am in contact with him every day giving him advice, and mostly encouragement, as he fulfills his dream of playing for our national team,”  he added.

According to Artiaga, Cesar Castillo, Gonzalez’s teammate at both Cerritos and Chivas USA, was also invited to camp but didn’t make it to the final roster.

-Rick Gomez

Former wrestler earns NCAA berth

Mike Koenhlein

Former two-time junior college All-American wrestler for the Cerritos College wrestling team, Mike Koehnlein, earned an at-large berth into the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

The 141-pounder from Nebraska University was among 50 other selections announced by the NCAA on Wednesday.

Koehnlein had a record of 18-15 for the season and made it to the national polls with a No.20 ranking late February.

The 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships take place next Thursday-Saturday, March 18-20 at the Qwest Center in Omaha.

During his time with Cerritos College, Koehnlein won the state championship and had a record of 39-4 his sophomore year.

He placed fourth in the state tournament with a record of 26-9 his freshman year.

-Rick Gomez

Severns is strong in return

Skye Severns

Skye Severns pitched three innings for the first time in three weeks on Tuesday in the Cerritos College baseball team’s 15-13 loss against Pasadena City College.

Severns was out for three weeks due to an injury.

He didn’t show any signs of rust as he struck out five and gave up one run and two hits.

Softball players named into Youth Hall of Fame

Pitcher Hillary Perez-Ashley and Samantha Garcia were recently inducted into the Lakewood Youth Hall of Fame.

Perez-Ashley (Long Beach Poly) and Garcia (St. Joseph) have been awarded numerous awards dating back to their high school days.

Sophomore Perez-Ashley was named a Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American and the Southern California Pitcher of the Year after compiling a record of 31-7 record with a 1.97 ERA.

She is currently undefeated with a record of 18-0.

Garcia is leading the team with a batting average of .529 and 14 stolen bases.  She is second in the team with five homeruns and first with 22 RBIs.

-Rick Gomez

Baseball team needs to get back just having fun

It all fell apart for the Cerritos College baseball Monday against Compton College.

Hitting was non-extinct pitching was horrible and defensively the team played sub-par in the 9-0 loss.

The Falcons lone hit came from the first batter of the 9th inning by third basemen Jake Mayoral.

This hopefully is rock bottom for them.

They just seem to be a little tight trying to be perfect when what they need to do is relax and have fun playing a game.

Head coach Jack Brooks said before the season started that if you can’t have fun playing a game and  that is what baseball is just a game then why do you play.

The team in past season has been a vocal group when it is up to bat with the players in the dugout cheering on their teammates with then assistant coach Brooks leading the charge.

This season has been much different, players this season have seem to just be spectators watching and hoping and not being actively participating when on the bench.

Second basemen Max McEleney said that this season’s team has a different personality and he doesn’t feel that you have to be cheering the whole, but he admitted that when things are going bad that to get teammates pumped up and back into the game that he does think it is useful.

On the other hand assistant coach Anthony Moreno believes that not cheering from the dugout is a problem.

“If you wait until the sixth inning to start cheering for your teammates its too late, he said. “We have to be more vocal as a group, that really helps guys get going.”

Also in past seasons you would see guys after his at bat go over and talk to their teammates about what they saw from a particular pitcher, but not this season.

The coaches have stressed that the team needs to be better at making in game adjustments and this clearly a way it can do that.

Whatever the reason is for the slow start that the Falcon have had they need to go out and just have fun play a game that millions of children in America dream of playing at this level.
-Scott Watkins

Offense struggles to find spark without Terry

Second basemen Joe Terry has been out of the lineup because of an injury and still has 3 to 4 weeks before he is ready to return for the Cerritos College Baseball team.

The Falcons offense has been struggling to find consistency, but coaches and players feel that the issue has nothing to do with Terry being out.

“We need to be aggressive and attack the fastball,” assistant coach Anthony Moreno said. “That is the biggest problem right now.”

There are more problems then just not aggressive at the plate.

“They need to make in game adjustments better, against Mt. SAC they were late on their swings and when that happens they either need to move up in the box or choke up on the bat a little bit, but that is not happening,” he said. “To compete at this level you have to be able to make those adjustment.”

Against conference rival Mt. SAC the Falcons lost 4-0 and didn’t get much going at all on offense and when they did they made base running mistakes that took them completely out of the game.

Now in conference play the Falcons need to find this consistency or they will be out of the playoff race before Terry is able to return.

-Scott Watkins

Former Cerritos catcher signs with Mets

Former Cerritos College catcher Rod Barajas played with the Texas Ranger from 2004-06.

Former catcher/1st baseman Rod Barajas has signed a one-year, $500,000 contract with the New York Mets.

In his 11-year career, he has played for world champion Arizona Diamondbacks (1999-2003), Texas Rangers (2004-06), Philadelphia Phillies (2008) and the Toronto Blue Jays (2008-09).

Barajas played for the Cerritos College baseball team in the 1994-95 seasons where he was awarded 1st-team All SCC selection as a designated hitter and 2nd team his sophomore year as 1st baseman.

He was also one of the captains on the team his sophomore year when the Falcons last made it to a state championship series.

Cerritos would go on to lose that series against Santa Ana.

-Rick Gomez

Baseball team out to rough start

While it might still be early in the season, the Cerritos College baseball team is off to a horrible start.  After its first nine games the Falcons are 2-7 under first-year head coach Jack Brooks.

It is early, but is it time to wonder about the coaching change made after the baseball team went 26-15 during the regular season under former head coach Ken Gaylord but lost in the first round of the state tournament.

There might be hope this season but with the way the Falcons have been losing this season there needs to be tremendous turnaround or all hope will be lost.

The pitching staff has let the Falcons down.  It has given up an average of more than 9 runs per game.  That is just unacceptable.

They have been losing by an average of just fewer than 6 runs per game.

Whether this is just bad start or a start of a down season for this team things need to turnaround in a hurry or it will be look at a season where the Falcons do not make the playoffs and that just will not cut it at a college that has such a winning tradition in baseball.

-Scott Watkins

Jackson named Co-MVP

Adria Jackson

Guard Adria Jackson was named Co-MVP of the South Coast Conference on Tuesday.

It is the second-straught year a player from the Cerritos College basketball team is awarded the honor.  Mercedes Taylor was awarded last year.

Jackson led the team in scoring with points (15.2) and steals (48).

Also joining the first-team all-conference team with Jackson is Rose Boatner, April Perry and Maleta Daughtery.

Jazlyn Afusia was awarded second-team all-conference.

-Rick Gomez

Kincaid makes history

Wally Kincaid

Cerritos College former head coach Wally Kincaid will be inducted into the 2010 College Baseball Hall of Fame on July 1.

Kincaid will be making history by becoming the first inductee to come from a two-year institution.

Kincaid, who now has the Cerritos College baseball field named after him, served as the Cerritos College baseball team for 22 years where he racked up a record of 678-163 but more importantly, six state championships.

- Rick Gomez