Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
After losing a pair of games to Southwestern last week – 6-4 and 6-2 – the Cerro Coso Coyotes baseball team returned home Tuesday to host the defending Central Valley Conference champion and 3C2A NorCal regional semifinalist Fresno City College.
The Coyotes didn't have the start they wanted, and they struggled all game against the Rams in a 22-2 loss. Head coach Justus Scott gave his thoughts on his team's performance in a loss against a playoff caliber opponent.
"A lot of things reared its head today and you have to forget about the score. We got boat-raced, which happens with baseball teams. It's what we did in between the lines and some of the inner baseball things that were not good," he said.
The Coyote offense finished the game with 35 at-bats for two runs on 10 hits with no extra-base hits and two RBIs. The batters had six walks, eight strikeouts, and left 12 runners on base. Lauren Binney and Bryan London had one RBI each. Deri Steiert-Couture led the team with three hits. and Anthony Hector had two hits.
Scott said about the offensive performance, "I believe they were all singles, so that's a piece of it, no extra-base hits. We had a chance early to score a few, we just didn't get the timely hit, the big hit. Offensively, they have some good arms, but for us offensively it was OK. We would have to be in a 4-2, 5-3 game to pull that one out."
The Coyotes went deep into the bullpen, sending seven pitchers to the mound to face the Rams. Rafael Echeverria started the game and earned the loss, going three innings and giving up eight runs on eight hits with seven earned. He finished with four walks and four strikeouts. Diego Ramos came on in relief didn't record an out, giving up two runs, one earned, on one hit. He walked one batter.
Sebastian Cocon came on and went three scoreless innings with two hits. He had four strikeouts and no walks. Jack Banning threw a scoreless inning with a hit. Jacob Victory went an inning, giving up two earned runs on one hit. He walked one batter and struck out two. Gabe Wetzel went 0.1 innings, giving up 10 runs, five earned, on four hits. He walked two batters with no strikeouts. Chase Cummins threw a scoreless 0.2 innings to close the game. He struck out two batters.
Scott said about his bullpen's struggle against a playoff caliber team, "there really is no secret until they understand it, especially guys out of the bullpen. Doesn't matter who you are playing. Doesn't matter if you are playing the worst team in the state, best team in the state, playing a Division 1 team, you have to throw strikes. You have to play defense and you get timely hits and that keeps you in a ballgame. Which we have been doing for the most part. We just got off a great series against Southwestern and today we just have to throw it out."
The Coyote skipper did speak on the advice he is giving to his team after suffering a huge loss.
"I'm telling them after the game it's over with, it's a learning experience, you have to learn from it with certain factors. But that is a playoff team and one of the better teams in Northern California that you can't get behind and walk guys. That in itself, you will never win a baseball game against a good team with free passes," Scott said.
Cerro Coso (3-3) is on the road for a three-game road trip beginning at Porterville on Thursday. The Coyotes defeated Porterville earlier in the season 7-3 at home. After Porterville, Cerro Coso will face Irvine Valley in a two-game series beginning on Friday and Saturday. Scott spoke on the upcoming three-game series and what he wants to see from his team.
"It's early, six games into it, and we are playing really well. I keep saying that they have to throw it out, but this does happen, and they have to bounce back. We are .500 right now, and see if we can take two of these next three on the road," he said.
The Coyotes return home Tuesday hosting Antelope Valley College in the first of a home-and-away series.
On Tuesday, Echeverria started on the mound and walked the first two batters and then gave up a double. He walked the next batter to load the bases. He got the next two batters to hit the ball to third baseman Anthony Hector, who made the throw home for the first two outs. The ensuing batter hit a three-run double before Echeverria got the final out on a ground ball to Hector.
Lauren Binney was the leadoff batter for the Coyotes, and he grounded out to third. Chase Scott walked on his first at-bat and Bryan London got a hit. Julian Minor popped to the second baseman, but during his at-bat, Scott and London stole third and second. Andrew Bain went up with a runner in scoring positing and hit a line drive to the center fielder for the final out. Cerro Coso trailed 4-0 after one.
Echeverria took the mound and got the first batter to hit a line drive to Hector at third. He got the second batter to hit a pop ball for Scott to make the catch. The next batter hit a successful bunt to reach first, and the ensuing batter hit a double to score a run. After giving up a hit, Echeverria got the final out on a strikeout.
Cayden Johnson was up to bat to start the bottom of the second and grounded out. Steiert-Couture and Hector got back-to-back hits to put runners on second and first. Cayden Trujillo went to bat and hit into a double play to end the inning. Cerro Coso trailed 5-0 after two.
To start the top of the third, Echeverria gave up a hit to the leadoff batter. He then struck out the next three batters with the first striking out looking and the last two swinging.
Cerro Coso was back to the start of the lineup with Binney, who struck out. Scott got a hit to reach first, but London and David Encarnacion, who made his first at-bat due to an injury substation, both struck out. Cerro Coso continued to trail the Rams 5-0.
Echeverria took the mound in the fourth and gave up two hits, including a bunt, and walked a batter to load the bases. That brought out Scott, who went to the bullpen with Ramos making his season debut. He hit the first batter he faced to force in a run and then threw a wild pitch to give up another run. The third batter he faced got a hit, but an error by Encarnacion allowed the Rams to score. Ramos gave up a two-run single and a walk before Scott visited the mound to relieve him.
Cocon took the mound and struck out the first batter he faced. He got the next to hit a fly to London in right field and got the final out on a grounder to Scott at first.
Bain went up to bat and flied out to left field. Johnson hit a ground ball to the Rams shortstop for out two. Steiert-Couture got a hit to reach first with two outs, but Hector grounded to third for the final out. Cerro Coso trailed 10-0 at the end of the fourth.
Cocon went back on the mound and gave up a hit to the leadoff batter. He got the next batter to hit into a double play, but gave a triple to the ensuing batter. He got out of the inning without giving up a run by striking out the next batter.
Trujillo was up to bat for the Coyotes and got a hit to start the bottom of the fifth. Binney hit a line drive to the right fielder, Scott popped out to the right fielder, and London hit a liner to the third baseman to end the inning. The score stayed at 10-0 in favor of the visitors.
Cocon took the mound and struck out the first two batter he faced in the sixth. He then got the final out on a pop ball to Steiert-Couture.
Dax Patton had his first at-bat and struck out. Bain was up and got a hit to reach first, but Johnson hit into a double play to end the sixth. Cerro Coso continued to trail 10-0.
Banning took the mound in the seventh and got the first batter to hit a line drive to Hector at third. He gave up a hit to the next batter, but then got the ensuing batter to hit a ground ball to Patton at second base. He got the final out on a popup to Hector at third.
Steiert-Couture was the leadoff batter in the bottom of the seventh and got a hit to reach first. Hector and Trujillo walked to load the bases. Binney drew a walk to score Steiert-Couture. With the bases loaded, Scott hit a pop ball to the first baseman. London walked with the bases loaded to score a second run. But that was it for Cerro Coso's scoring, as Paxton and Bain both struck out with bases loaded to end the inning. Cerro Coso trailed by eight runs, 10-2.
Victory was on the mound for the Coyotes and he walked the first batter he faced in the top of the eighth. He gave up an RBI triple and a sacrifice fly. He got the final two outs on back-to-back strikeouts.
Jorge Amaya had his first at-bat and popped to second. Steiert-Couture hit a grounder to the shortstop. Bain got a hit to reach first, but Trujillo grounded to second for the final out. The Coyotes trailed 12-2.
Wetzel took the mound for the final inning and he got the first batter to fly out to Trujillo. But then he gave up back-to-back hits and a hit batsman to load the bases. With the bases loaded, the batter hit the ball back to Wetzel, but he overthrew the catcher for an error allowing the visitors to score. He walked the next batter to reload the bases and gave up a run on a wild pitch to the ensuing batter. Another walk loaded the bases again, and that was followed by a two-run hit and an RBI double. An error by Paxton at second base allowed the visitors to score another run, and then Wetzel hit the next batter to load the bases. He hit the next batter to force in another run, and that brought out Scott, who called Cummins from the bullpen.
Cummins took over with the bases loaded and gave up an RBI single with the run charged to Wetzel. He struck out the next batter before allowing another inherited runner to score on an RBI single. He struck out the next batter for the final out.
In the bottom of the ninth, Carlos Peralta had his first at-bat and got a hit to reach first. Robert Mazzarese walked in his first at-bat to put runners on first and second. But Braden Chun flied to center field in his first at-bat and Patton and Gabe Duchow in his first at-bat both struck out to end the game.