Seeded 14th for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division-III playoffs, Ceres High’s varsity baseball team put a scare into third-seeded Atwater during their first-round matchup last week.

The Bulldogs grabbed a three-run lead in top of the fifth inning before the Falcons rallied for a 9-5 victory on May 14 at Memorial Ballpark.

Atwater also erased a two-run deficit in the second inning.

Ceres High fell nine outs away from advancing to the second round of playoffs.

“I definitely thought we should have won that game,” Bulldogs junior catcher Josh Pernetti said. “Things didn’t fall in our favor. A couple miscues cost us. But overall, we played really well. We were definitely prepared.”

Ceres High posted a team-batting average of .296 with eight strikeouts versus Atwater.

The Bulldogs stranded five runners on base.

Efrain Brito batted 2-for-3 with one double, one RBI and one run.

Jaden Borba batted 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

Andrew Kommavong batted 1-for-3 with one double and one run.

Brock DeWitt batted 2-for-4 with one run.

Gabe Flores batted 1-for-3 with one RBI.

Josh Pernetti batted 1-for-4 with one run.

Isaiah Alcorn batted 0-for-1 with one run.

Brock Moore batted 0-for-2 with one RBI.

Ceres High made two errors on defense.

The Bulldogs used four different players at pitcher during the game, including Alcorn, Justin Prestridge, Dominic Magdaleno and Cesar Alvarez.

Alcorn earned a no-decision.

He allowed four earned runs and six hits with two strikeouts and two walks in four innings.

The contest was tied at 2-2 when Alcorn exited the contest.

“He pitched well enough for us to win,” Pernetti said. 

Prestridge had one strikeout in one-third innings of relief.

Magdaleno yielded one run and one hit in one inning.

Alvarez surrendered three runs and two hits with no strikeouts and three walks in two-thirds of an inning.

Ceres High amassed a 15-14 overall record and placed third in the Western Athletic Conference (10-4) this spring.

The Bulldogs bounced back after finishing 10-14 and fifth overall in the WAC standings a season ago.

“We had a lot of hiccups throughout the year but we were able to push through them,” Pernetti said. “We didn’t let them phase us. I’m proud of our guys and the way we battled all year. We reached our goal. We played one extra game. We had the talent to go further.”

Ceres High will lose three players to graduation: DeWitt, Brock Moore and Daniel Gamez.

Prestridge, Brito, Pernetti, Alcorn and Borba will return to the team next spring.

“We got a lot of players coming back,” Pernetti said. “We should definitely compete for the WAC title, make playoffs and go further next year if we play like I think we should.”