Perez Homers, Hancock Baseball Falls at No. 3 Cypress 16-3

Sophomore shortstop Quinntin Perez slugged a leadoff home run to give the Allan Hancock College baseball team the early lead, but it was all Cypress as the Chargers defeated the Bulldogs 16-3 on Thursday afternoon. Hancock dropped to 6-6, all of its losses coming on the road, and saw its three-game winning streak come to an end. Cypress, ranked No. 3 in the region, won its seventh in a row to improve to 10-3.

Cypress took the lead for good with two runs in the first, adding one in the second, two in third, and scored four times in both the fourth and fifth innings. Hancock starting pitcher Nic Cardinal took the loss, allowing seven hits, nine runs, six of them earned, over four innings. He struck out five Chargers. Freshman Jesse Gasca allowed four runs on three hits in one inning, while Shane Flaningam surrendered three runs, three walks and two hits in one inning of relief for Hancock. Phillip Martin and Jeff Fernandes threw one shutout inning of relief apiece for the Bulldogs.

After Cypress scored 13 straight runs, Hancock added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Perez hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Davy Demeter scored on a wild pitch in the eighth.

Perez finished 1-for-3 with a home run and 2 RBI. Cordell Bowie, Marcus Nix, Jr. and Chad Jones had one hit apiece.

Cypress outhit Hancock 12 to four. Dominic Campeau went 5-for-5 with 8 RBI and scored five times. He hit a grand slam in the fourth, RBI-doubles in the first and third innings, and run-scoring singles in the fifth and seventh innings. Jesse Lopez added two hits and scored four times.

The Bulldogs will return to action at 1 p.m. Friday at Irvine Valley College before returning to Cypress for a 12 p.m. game on Saturday. Hancock defeated Irvine Valley 11-9 and 9-1 in Santa Maria last weekend.