The Ceres Blaze 15-and-under travel baseball team finished fifth overall in the 16-and-under Open Division of the USSSA Global World Series this past week in San Diego.

“It’s not disappointing,” head coach Jorge Guerrero said. “But it’s not the result we wanted. We could have done better.”

Ceres won two of five games against older competition.

“If we played our age, we’d be dominating,” Guerrero said. “But I don’t know how much they’d be learning.”

The third-seeded Blaze lost 4-3 to the sixth-seeded Cupertino Cardinals in the quarterfinals on July 31.

“We couldn’t get anything going, offensively,” Guerrero said. “We couldn’t string hits together. We mercy-ruled them (earlier in the tournament). Our bats were on fire.”

Ceres compiled a 2-2 record in pool play.

The Blaze bested Central Baseball-Hawaii 9-0 and Cupertino Cardinals 10-0 on July 28.

Ceres lost 14-0 to the Jackhammers on July 29.

The Blaze defeated Outlaws Baseball 5-2 on July 30.

“We were feeling really good,” Guerrero said. “We were the third seed going into playoffs. The kids played really good baseball. The chemistry on the team changed. They trust each other.”

Ceres has competed in four tournaments this season.

Gio Ceja, Marco Gaxiola, Giovanni Guerrero, Julian Gutierrez, Enrique Jaurique, Christopher Jones, Easton Miller, Liam Patron, Daniel Payan, Antonio Peña, Victor Nuno, Preston Sanchez and Landon Skeen have all contributed.

The Blaze will compete in an 18-and-under showcase tournament later this month.

“We’ve been playing against older teams,” coach Guerrero said. “We’re not chasing wins or rings. The kids are getting exposure to older boys and college scouts.”