May 1, 2025
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
Cerritos High was 15 outs away from locking down its sixth 605 League title and had all the momentum, building a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning against Oxford Academy this past Tuesday. But the Patriots, specifically Logan Lavoie and Bear Spessert, spoiled the anticipated dogpile on the pitcher’s mound at the end of the game.
Spessert went three for four, drove in three runs and scored once and Lavoie worked his way out of danger in each of the final four-plus innings as Oxford Academy rallied for a 4-3 victory, jumping ahead of the Dons in the standings. Cerritos fell to 14-12, 7-2 while the Patriots improved to 7-1-1 in league play. The two face each other on Friday in Cypress with the winner claiming the league championship.
Although junior pitcher Frank Melendrez kept the Patriots off the board in the beginning, he threw 32 pitches in the top of the first as the rivals loaded the bases on a base hit from Spessert, a fielder’s choice from Mac Tiettmeyer and a walk to Brendan Lee. But Melendrez struck out Adrian Mejia to end further damage, then worked a perfect second inning on 11 pitches with a pair of strikeouts.
On the fifth pitch in the bottom of the first, senior center fielder Braxton Reed launched a home run over the centerfield fence. Then senior shortstop Adrian Regis led off the second with a base hit to right and advanced to second on an error. Tiettmeyer then walked sophomore first baseman Julian Diaz and both runners moved up on a sacrifice from sophomore right fielder Alex Laurin. A fielder’s choice from senior catcher Kaden Brickner allowed Regis to score when the throw home was a little late and that was followed by a double steal, making it 3-0.
After that, the Dons would strand 10 runners on base, including the bases loaded with one out in the third and two each in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings. In the third inning, senior second baseman Dalton Chi and sophomore third baseman Brandon Vo each singled and one out later, Tiettmeyer walked Diaz to load the bases and end his time on the mound. On the next pitch, which would come from Lavoie, Chi was forced out at home and Lavoie got Brickner to pop up for the third out.
“I bet on us on Friday,” said Cerritos head coach Matt Joyce when asked about the runners left on base. “We’re the better team. That’s been our problem all year; we’ve left a lot guys on. The problem is…we end up giving up one too many outs to get runners in scoring position. I can’t squeeze if I can’t do anything with two outs, and every time we had second and third, I [have] two outs and now I’m relying on a high school kid to get me a hit. That’s been a struggle this year.”
The fourth and sixth innings saw Cerritos leave runners at second and third with two outs with the best chance coming in the latter. Facing a 1-2 count, Vo sent a flare behind the first base bag only to see it tail off into fair territory. Three pitches later and now with a full count, he struck out. In the seventh inning with two outs, junior pinch hitter Josh Malonzo and Brickner each singled. But on the first pitch he saw, junior designated hitter Ryan Salas popped up to end the game.
Melendrez began the top of the third by walking Sora Suzuki, who got the Patriots in the scoring column when he came home on a double from Spessert. Later in the frame, Spessert made it 3-2 by scoring on a wild pitch.
After getting the first two outs in the fourth, Melendrez walked Jude Kim and Suzuki, prompting a pitching change, Spessert then greeted junior pitcher Jacob Hoosac with a double to the right field gap for two more runs. Hoosac would then retire nine of the next 10 he faced, striking out five.
“We pitched okay, but we were a little too good with our two-strike counts,” said Joyce. “And they really have one hitter, and we let him beat us.”
Since the 605 League was formed, only Oxford Academy (Apr. 25, 2023) and John Glenn High (Apr. 11, 2025) had given the Dons their only league setbacks. And, Cerritos and Oxford Academy had entered the final week of the regular season undefeated three times (2019, 2021, 2023). Last season, the two were undefeated going into the second to the last week of the season.
In addition, Oxford Academy’s win over the Dons in 2023 was in the first game of the home and home series, 6-4 on the road. Cerritos won the back end 6-0.
“They’re always going to give their best shot; everybody always is,” said Joyce of the Patriots.
The Dons also have a scheduled game at Sunny Hills High on Tuesday before the CIF-Southern Section divisional playoffs begin on May 15. The brackets will be released on May 12.
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