The Cypress High baseball suffered its first loss in Empire League play.The reason: errors.
Indeed, Cypress committed six errors against Tustin, which had previously not won a single league contest, and as a result, suffered a 12-3 beating to split the two-game series on April 11 at home, of all places.
Cypress won the first meeting, which unfolded at Tustin, with an 8-3 tallyon April 8. The Centurions (9-6, 3-1) dropped to the No. 3 spot in the standings. They now trail frontrunner Valencia (8-1) and second-place Pacifica (5-1). The Centurions trailed for the entire contest, falling behind1-0 in the first and then into a 5-1 hole in the second.
In fact, Tustin held a 7-1lead when Cypress dented the board for a pair of runs in the fifth. The Centurions actually finished with the same amount of hits as the opposition, swatting nine, with Brandon Alamo going 2-for-3 and Dominic Fletcher, who had a 3-for-3 day, knocking in all three RBI with a pair of doubles.
Cypress starter Joe Mercado suffered the loss. He tossed three innings, allowing five earned runs off five hits while striking out four and walking six. Mike Murphy relieved him, allowing four earned runs while giving up a hit and fanning three hitters.
Cypress returned to action against West, which it defeated by the score of8-1 in the Redondo Tournament on Saturday, April 12. It then faced JSerra Catholic in a doubleheader on April 16 (score not available) and will battle Bishop Amat in the Redondo Tournament on Saturday, April 19. That contest starts at 11 a.m.