Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
After losing the last two series, the Cerro Coso Coyotes baseball team went up against Chaffey March 12-14 looking to right the ship. The Coyotes went on to sweep the Panthers and moved into second place in Inland Empire Athletic Conference.
In the first game, the Coyotes traveled to Chaffey for a 13-6 road win. The Coyotes took an early 3-0 lead, but by the fifth, the Coyotes and Panthers were tied at 4-4. The Coyote offense came to life and scored four in the sixth, three in the eighth, and two in the ninth while the defense gave up only two more runs.
The Coyotes had 43 at-bats for 13 runs on 12 hits with 13 RBIs. They had nine batters walk, while five batters struck out and 16 were left on base. Chase Scott had four RBIs from two hits and Cayden Trujillo had three RBIs from four hits. Cayden Johnson, David Encarnacion, Andrew Bain, Dax Patton, Gabe Duchow, and Anthony Hector all had an RBI.
Cerro Coso used six pitchers against the Panthers. Jacob Rice threw three innings, giving up three runs, all earned, on three hits. He faced 19 batters for seven walks and two strikeouts. Andre Carrillo threw two innings, giving up one earned run on one hit. Cory Kent, Ian Rasmussen, Sebastian Cocon, and Eric Galvan all threw an inning.
Cerro Coso hosted Chaffey in the second game and earned a walk-off 9-8 win. Cerro Coso took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. The visitors scored four runs in the top of the fifth, but the Coyotes scored two runs to take a 7-4 lead. The Panthers took an 8-7 lead after scoring four runs in the top of the sixth. Three of those runs were because of bases-loaded walks. The Coyotes tied the game, scoring a run in the bottom of the seventh, and earned the walk-off win on a pitcher's error in the bottom of the ninth.
Brandon Donohue started and threw five innings, giving up six runs (five earned) on six hits. He faced 24 batters for two walks and a strikeout. Elvis Conte threw in relief, giving up a two runs, both earned, on one hit without recording an out. He faced three batters and walked two. Rasmussen came on and walked both batters he faced. Cocon threw two innings giving up a hit. He faced eight batters to walk one and struck out three. Johnson closed the game throwing two scoreless innings. He faced seven batters and struck out four.
The offense had 34 at-bats for nine runs on 11 hits with six RBIs. The Coyotes had seven batters walk, while four batters struck out and 11 runners were left stranded. Trujillo and Binney both had two RBIs. Johnson and Bain each had an RBI, with Bain's coming on a solo home run in the fourth inning.
The Coyotes closed the series at Chaffey and earned an 8-3 win for the sweep. The Coyotes jumped out to an early 5-0 lead at the end of the second. The home team scored its only runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Coyotes' lead to two runs. Cerro Coso added two runs in the seventh and a run in the ninth to secure the win.
The offense had 41 at-bats for eight runs on 13 hits with eight RBIs. The Coyotes had two batters walk, eight batters strike out, and eight runners left stranded. Scott led with three RBIs and Johnson had two. Trujillo, Bain, and Duchow all had an RBI.
Rafael Echeverria started and earned the win, going five innings and giving up three runs, two earned, on four hits. He faced 22 batters for three walks and six strikeouts. Kent threw two scoreless innings, giving up a hit and struck out a batter. Carrillo and Victory both threw a scoreless inning.