Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
After playing the last three games on the road – at Porterville and a back-to-back at Irvine College – the Cerro Coso baseball team returned home on Tuesday to host Antelope Valley College. The Coyotes went into the game against the Marauders in the midst of a six-game losing streak, having lost at Porterville, 4-2, and at Irvine College, 14-7 and 20-2.
Looking to snap a six-game losing streak, the Coyotes had a strong showing on the mound despite giving up 10 runs on 13 hits including a grand slam in a five-run third inning. The Coyotes struggled on both the offensive end with only two runs on six hits, and the defense made four errors. Cerro Coso fell to Antelope Valley College, 10-2.
Coyotes skipper Justus Scott spoke on his team's performance against the Marauders.
"A loss is a loss, but we did some things better. The things within the game we did a little bit better. Even though the score does not dictate it, we pitched a little bit better. Hopefully these guys think that it's a start of something, but we are on a slide," he said.
Cerro Coso finished with 33 at-bats for two runs on six hits with one RBI. The Coyotes batters had no walks, eight strikeouts, and left five runners on base.
David Encarnacion had the team's sole RBI with one hit on four at-bats. Lauren Binney and Julian Minor both scored a run and had a hit on four at-bats. Bryan London and Chase Scott all had a hit on four at-bats, and Cayden Trujillo had a hit on three at-bats.
The Coyotes left a runner stranded in the first and in the second left the runner stranded at third base. They did not get a runner on base again until the bottom of the sixth, when they had two hits but left only one on base. In the bottom of seventh, after a leadoff double Minor scored on an error by the visiting shortstop on Johnson's hit to reach first safely with two outs. In the bottom of the ninth, Binney hit a leadoff double, and with two outs, Encarnacion hit the sole RBI to score Binney and cut the deficit to 10-2.
Scott said about the offense with two extra-base hits, "you just try to think of it positively; it's early. There is still a lot of baseball to be played. When the dam breaks, hopefully it breaks big, but at the same time offensively we have to make it break a little bit. We have to do some little things. We pressed there from the fifth to the ninth offensively and chased a lot."
On the mound, the Coyotes used three pitchers for nine innings. Rafael Echeverria started and went 4.1 innings giving up seven runs on six hits with two earned. He finished with four walks and four strikeouts. Shifu Hasegawa came on to relieve Echeverria, and he went 3.2 innings giving up two runs, both earned, on five hits. He finished with three walks and two strikeouts. Elvis Conte closed the game throwing an inning and giving up one earned run on two hits. He finished with a walk and strikeout. The Coyotes as a team gave up 10 runs, five earned, on 13 hits. They had eight walks and seven strikeouts.
The Cerro Coso coach said on his pitchers' performance, "I don't know if we will mention it to them, but right now their minds will think of it that way, they are struggling, but the pen was good. We are still not playing clean baseball via the walks and errors and minimize some innings. But until we start hitting, it's tough to win a 2-0 or 2-1 game in college baseball."
Cerro Coso is on the road Thursday visiting the Marauders for the second of a two-game series. Scott said on facing Antelope Valley on the road, "at some point we have to get back on track, and that's a good team. They threw strikes all day long, and if you make mistakes pitching wise, they can get after it. We are a good baseball team, but we are not showing it."
Cerro Coso's week does not end with Thursday's game, as the Coyotes are home on Saturday hosting West Los Angeles in the final non-conference game of the season. With three games in five days, Scott spoke on the possibility of fatigue in the midst of a losing streak.
"Winning cures all, so losing makes those things a little bit worse. But we are going to see if some other guys who haven't a ton of [at-bats] maybe do a little bit here in the next couple of days. And conference is coming up quick, so we are running out of time, not necessarily wins and losses, but play better baseball," he said.
The first pitch for both games is 1 p.m.
The first inning on Tuesday began with Echevarria on the mound, and he got the leadoff batter to hit into a line drive to London in right field. He hit the second batter with a pitch but got the final two outs with a double play on a pop ball to first baseman Scott, who then tossed the ball to Echevarria who covered first base.
London was the leadoff batter and he got a hit to reach first. Scott struck out in his first at-bat but London was able to steal second. Binney came up and hit a fly ball to right field, and Minor struck out to end the first.
Echeverria took the mound for the second inning tied at 0-0, and got the first batter to hit a ground ball to Encarnacion for the first out. The next batter popped out to Encarnacion, but the ensuing batter got a hit to reach first. Echeverria got the final out by striking out the batter.
Andrew Bain got hit by a pitch to take first base against the protest of the AVC coach. Encarnacion grounded out to the opposing second baseman but moved Bain to second base. Johnson struck out for the second out, but during his at-bat, Bain was able to get the jump and steal third base. With a runner in scoring position, Deri Steiert-Couture grounded out to the shortstop.
Echeverria took the mound in the third tied 0-0, and got the first batter to hit a pop ball that Binney dropped for an error. The next batter got a hit, and the visitors followed that with a successful bunt to load the bases with no outs. Echeverria walked the ensuing batter to give up a run, and then followed that by getting the next batter to pop out to Encarnacion. He struck out the next batter, but gave up a grand slam to the next batter. He got the final out on a flyball to London, but the damage was done with a 5-0 deficit.
Trujillo was up to bat and popped the ball to the second baseman for the first out. Cerro Coso was back to the top of the lineup and London grounded out to the shortstop. Scott came up and grounded out to the third baseman to end the inning.
Echeverria took the mound in the fourth trailing 5-0, and started the inning by getting the batter to hit a pop ball to Scott. He walked the next batter and followed that with the next batter hitting a line drive to Bain. The next batter reached first on an error, and Echeverria closed the inning by striking out the next batter.
Binney opened the bottom of the inning with a pop ball in foul territory caught by the AVC catcher. Minor and Bain both struck out to close the inning.
Cerro Coso continued to trail Antelope Valley College with Echeverria on the mound. He walked the first batter he faced in the fifth, and then struck out the next batter. He walked the following batter, which put runners in the corners. A wild pitch gave the Marauders a run, and the visitors added another on a hit. That brought out the Cerro Coso coach to end Echeverria's night and summon Hasegawa from the bullpen. He got the final two outs on ground balls to Minor and Encarnacion.
Encarnacion was the leadoff batter and flied out to the right fielder. Johnson hit a ground ball to the second baseman, and Steiert-Couture grounded out to the shortstop.
Cerro Coso went into the top of the sixth trailing 7-0 with Hasegawa on the mound. He struck out the leadoff batter and got the next to ground out to Scott. He gave up a hit and got the final out on a line drive to London's mitt in right field.
Trujillo was up to bat and he got a hit to reach first. London then hit into a double play. Scott followed that with a hit to reach first, but Binney hit a popped ball to the opposing third baseman for the final out.
Going into the top of the seventh, Hasegawa started the inning with the batter grounding out to Encarnacion. The next batter got a hit, and the following walked to put runners at second and first. The Coyotes pitcher got the next batter to pop out to Encarnacion, but another walk loaded the bases. Hasegawa got out of the jam by striking out the ensuing batter.
Minor opened the bottom of the inning with an extra-base hit to reach second. Bain hit a ground ball to the shortstop. Encarnacion struck out, and Johnson hit a grounder to the opposing shortstop who overthrew to the first baseman for an error, allowing Minor to score and Johnson to reach first. Steiert-Couture popped out to second to close the inning.
Cerro Coso went into the top of the eighth trailing 7-1. Hasegawa gave up a hit and walk to the first two batters he faced. He got the next to hit a ground ball to him for the first out. He got the ensuing batter to hit a pop ball to Minor, but the next batter hit a two-run single. Hasegawa gave up another hit before getting the final out on a line drive hit to London.
Trujillo and London both grounded out and Scott struck out to end the eighth.
The Coyotes trailed 9-1 going into the final inning and needed to hold their opponent scoreless and then score eight runs for extra innings or nine to steal a win. Conte took the mound and he gave up back-to-back hits and a walk to load the bases. A wild pitch allowed the visitors to score a run with no outs. Conte got the first out on strikeout, and followed that with two ground balls to Steiert-Couture and Minor.
The Coyotes went into the third trailing 10-1, with Binney at bat who hit a leadoff double. Minor hit a pop ball to the second baseman and Bain popped out to the shortstop. Encarnacion got a hit to bring Binney home, but Johnson struck out to end the game.