Cuesta Baseball reached the State's Top 25 Poll this morning, as #25, and immediately knocked off #21 Cypress, 5-4. The Chargers travelled to San Luis Obispo for the three-day Cuesta/Hancock Spring Break Tournament and opened against the Cougars on a blustery day.
The contest opened with a lot of action from the visiting Chargers, but Cuesta rallied to prevail. Cypress struck first when Leadoff Eddie Hacopian sent a Double to the wall and scored on an error two plays later. An RBI-single by Leftfielder Peter Werth scored another run and Cuesta was down, 2-0, before their first at-bat. In the next inning, the Chargers added another run and were up 3-0 after Catcher Matthew Oliden Tripled and scored on a wild pitch, however the Cougars' comeback began in their half of the 2nd inning. A leadoff Single by Zach Tallerman, followed by a Charger error and a 2-RBI Single by First Baseman Holden Cumiskey (pict) cut the lead down to one run. The Chargers pushed their lead back to two runs when Designated Hitter Brendan Harris hit a flyball into the wind and over the fence for a Home Run, but that would be all for Cypress. Cumiskey finished what he started the inning before and tied the game with a Double, 4-4, but both offenses went quiet over next four innings. Cuesta finally broke through after the 7th-inning stretch. Tallerman reached second on an infield groundball and the third error of the game by a Cypress Shortstop. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored the eventual game-winning run on a Single by Cumiskey. Cuesta Pitcher Ben Broughton authored three shutout innings to end the game and earn the victory in relief. He improved to 6-1 on the season after a near perfect outing, however special mention should also be made of Reliever Josh Souza's performance as the first Reliever out of the bullpen. After Cypress scored four runs in the first three innings, Souza entered the game and struckout three of the seven Chargers he faced and dominated their potent line-up while changing the game's momentum. On offense, Cumiskey, the only lefthand hitter in the Cougars' line-up, took advantage of the hard onshore wind blowing to rightfield. He was 3-for-4 on the day, including a Double, and drove in four of the Cougars' five runs.
#25 Cuesta is 18-12 on the season and has three more home games this week. The Cougars host Cerritos tomorrow (2:30), #17 Merced on Thursday (1 PM) and play a Western State Conference make-up game against Santa Barbara City on Friday (2:30).
