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April 22, 2026
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
It was a year and 10 days ago since Cerritos High saw its dreams of a fifth undefeated 605 League campaign in six seasons ended when John Glenn High scored twice in the top of the third to defeat the Dons and then-junior pitcher Jacob Hoosac 4-1. The teams met again this past Tuesday with Hoosac on the mound and host Cerritos made sure there would not be a repeat of what happened on Apr. 11, 2025.
Hoosac, the team’s ace hurler all season, labored through five innings tossing 90 pitches, but gave up four hits and walked four as the Dons posted a 7-1 victory, improving to 14-6, 7-0. For Hoosac, he improved to 4-1 and helped Cerritos to get to within a game of clinching at least a share of the league title with three league contests remaining.
“They had a lefty up there that was, I guess the nice thing to say would be to say under-hitting speed, and that kind of shut us down,” said Cerritos head coach Matt Joyce. “I’m not going to get mad at any of my guys offensively for not being successful against him.”
Cerritos was coming off a home and home sweep against Pioneer High in which it outscored the Titans 36-1 with both games ending before the sixth inning. Glenn head coach Ken Mason was just pleased his team could keep it competitive enough to where it would go into the seventh inning.
“Absolutely, there are some real bright spots,” he said. “[Right fielder] Hector Aragon had a double and a single. He’s a senior and I’m really happy for him. I’m really excited to see him to that. I’ve known he could do that all year; he’s just had confidence issues. So today was great. And then [senior] Isaiah Sanchez had a base hit today playing third base and made a nice play. Then [sophomore] Michael Perez threw 84 pitches today and actually was really effective.”
Aragon and Sanchez entered the game with a combined three hits in 29 at-bats while Perez, who worked the final five innings, came into the contest having pitched in just over nine innings in nine appearances.
The Dons were flustered by sophomore Ryder Perez, who was making his third start of the season. Perez faced 12 batters, walking seven and giving up a pair of hits. Four of the seven he walked would score as the Dons built a 4-0 lead before Mason replaced him with sophomore Michael Perez with none out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning.
Cerritos added to its lead in the third when junior left fielder Uriah Archie led off with a first-pitch triple to the right field corner and scored on a sacrifice fly from junior catcher Jordan Ju. After senior center fielder Jacob Johnson reached on an error, a base hit from senior shortstop Jayce Aragon increased the score to 6-0.
Michael Perez would walk senior first baseman Ryan Salas to lead off the fourth and scored later in the frame on Ju’s second hit. Senior third baseman Justin Sagun collected a pair of hits while Aragon, Archie, Ju and Salas all accounted for the rest of the hitting. However, both Glenn pitchers combined to walk 10 batters, and the Dons stranded 10 runners on base.
“The pitching was tough…but we were in control the whole game,” said Joyce.
Meanwhile, the Eagles were being patient at the plate, getting five runners on base through the first two innings and stranding a dozen for the game. The lone run for Glenn came in the seventh when senior Dylan Davis walked freshman pinch hitter Adrian Sanchez, who would move to second on a wild pitch and score on a single from sophomore left fielder David Segura.
“We felt confident; we beat [Hoosac] here last year,” said Mason. “We were obviously a bit undermanned [today] with [senior catcher and third baseman] Jonah [Mason] not being in the lineup. That really hurt us, but I was really proud of the players. We’re going to start looking at the younger guys; getting them a few more at-bats for next year.”
Glenn (7-13, 2-5) was up against the wall when the team arrived at Cerritos as the Eagles needed to win their final five games of the regular season and get some help if they were to get at least a share of third place or become eligible for an at-large bid in the CIF-Southern Section playoffs. Those dreams are now dashed as the best Glenn can do is finish the regular season with a 11-13 overall record and 5-5 in league. The Eagles will host Pioneer on Tuesday in the final week of league action.
“We really had expectations for making the playoffs one way or another,” said Mason. “So that was a disappointment. It’s unfortunate; I feel sad for these kids and the eight seniors. I was hoping it would look a little different for them.”
Cerritos will go for the season sweep on Friday when it goes to Glenn, then will wrap up the final week of league action on Tuesday when the Dons face last place Whitney High, Cerritos will also travel to Los Alamitos High on Wednesday in the first of three remaining non-league contests. Keeping his players motivated for the non-league games while playing the two last place teams in league isn’t easy for Joyce.
“It’s probably the toughest thing we do out here, is through these tough league games like this to keep them motivated in the dugout,” he said. “That’s why I schedule the non-league games. But it’s probably the biggest challenge. I’ve only been a part of the 605 League for three years and it’s been a lot of fun. But one of the challenges and negative parts of it are some of these games are not competitive, and it does take a toll on the team. It’s hard for us to stay focused for sure.
“It is hard, but we’re doing our best; we’re happy,” he continued. “The league title is all but ours and they all know it. It’s just staying focused and finishing. We still have to play the game and we have to show up.”
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