Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
Cerro Coso baseball opened Inland Empire Athletic conference with a three-game series against Desert and stole the first game with a 10-4 road win. The Coyotes returned home to host the Roadrunners in the second game with a chance to seal the series win, but the Coyotes' arms struggled giving up two big innings to the visitors for a 17-8 loss to tie the series at 1-1.
"Those types of games happen sometimes. It just does. Very, very ugly. We walked 16 and that will do it. We fought and fought and clawed our way back into it, but they had the big inning in the eighth that put it away," said head coach Justus Scott on the loss.
The Coyotes struggled on the mound in the loss to the Roadrunners, giving up 17 runs on 12 hits and 15 walks, though they struck out 11 as a team.
Andre Carrillo started on the mound and went 1.2 innings, giving up six runs, all earned, on three hits and walked four batters. Chase Cummins pitched 1/3 of an inning, giving up an earned run on a hit and walking two batters. Andrew Ponciano was on the mound for two innings, giving up an earned run on a hit, and walked three and struck out three. Justing Puello threw three innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits. He walked a batter and struck out four. Gabe Wetzel got an inning, giving up five runs, none earned, on two hits. He walked two and struck out two. De'Jon Mitchell closed the game for the Coyotes, going an inning and giving up two hits for two earned runs. He walked three batters and struck out two.
The Coyotes struggled in the second and eighth innings against the Roadrunners. Cerro Coso went into the top of the second leading 3-1 with Carrillo on the mound. He walked the first batter he faced and then got the next two to ground out to third baseman Dariel Rios and second baseman Ariel Rodriguez. But he then walked the ensuing batter and loaded the bases after hitting the next batter. He walked the sixth batter he faced in the inning and that brought Scott out from the dugout as he called upon Cummins to get the final out.
Cummins came on with the bases loaded, two outs, and a 3-2 lead. He walked the first batter he faced to tie the game at 3-3. He gave up a hit, then hit the next batter with a pitch, gave up another hit, and walked the fifth batter he faced, giving the Roadrunners a 7-3 lead. He got the final out on a fly to left fielder Isaac Martinez.
Going into the fifth, the Coyotes had the momentum after cutting the deficit to three runs, 10-7. Wetzel took the mound after Puello gave up only two runs in three innings including a scoreless sixth inning. But Wetzel didn't have the best start, walking the leadoff batter and then hitting the ensuing batter. The next batter bunted and Wetzel was able to get to the ball but overthrew the ball to first for an error, and the Roadrunners capitalized, scoring two runs. He did recover and struck out the next batter he faced but gave up a hit that scored a run.
Wetzel was called for a balk by the base umpire that moved the runners followed by the Cerro Coso pitcher walking the batter he was facing. Desert scored on an error by Wetzel but he recovered to strike out the batter and then gave up a hit. The final out came on a fly ball to right fielder Andrew Bain with the Coyotes trailing 15-7.
Scott said on his pitchers bouncing back after a rough game, "the biggest thing is we have five quality arms that are not with us this year due to injuries. Some of these guys are thrust into a position that maybe they are not quite capable yet, but they have no choice so they have to get it done. They are going to have to go back out there at some point in these types of games, and you hope to see them improve. We are set up pretty nice for Saturday. We have our guys who are throwing pretty well going so that way we have a good chance of taking two out of three."
During the struggles on the mound, the Coyotes' defense was able to help minimize the damage and give themselves a chance at making a comeback. In the first inning, the Coyotes were able to pick off the runner at first, made the routine ground ball plays, and made the catches on line drives and fly balls in the outfield.
The Coyotes coach said on his team's defensive performance, "that's rare and you see it that when you walk that many guys defensively you are not capable of staying on the balls off your feet and the tempo making plays. But we did, and we had a couple of pickoffs and that type of thing, and the error at shortstop was a tough play. But defensively we are OK."
Offensively, the Coyotes finished with 43 at-bats for eight runs on 15 hits with seven RBIs, three walks, and nine strikeouts. Jordan Boman had three hits in four at-bats for two runs scored and three RBIs. Kyle Phin had three hits in five at-bats for one run scored and three RBIs. Dariel Rios had one hit in five at-bats for an RBI.
The Coyotes scored three runs in the bottom of the first with a two-run double by Phin, and he later stole home for a 3-1 lead. The Coyotes scored a run in the fourth and fifth innings. In the bottom of the sixth, the home team scored two runs on a hit by Boman cutting the deficit to 10-7. Boman scored the final run for the home team on a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth.
The Coyotes will look to bounce back and take the series on the road at Desert and then will play in a three-game non-conference series against Antelope Valley beginning on Tuesday at home, Wednesday on the road, and ending at home on Thursday. The first pitch for the home games is set for 1 p.m. Looking ahead to the next games, Scott spoke on what he wants to see from his team as they look to bounce back.
"We just have to bounce back," he said. "We have to throw this out, and it's such a hard thing for this level of players. I say this level as they are still young and they have to be able to throw it out and get after it on Saturday."