Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
After splitting the first two games in the series against Mt. San Jacinto – a 16-15 road loss in 10 innings March 17 and a 11-9 home win with a grand slam by Cayden Johnson March 20 – the Cerro Coso Coyotes hosted the Mt. San Jacinto Eagles in a winner-take-all third game March 21. The game was also the backend of back-to-back home games.
The Coyotes attempted a late rally but fell short, losing the third game 11-9 and dropping the series 2-1. Despite dropping the series to the Eagles, the Coyotes are still in second place in Inland Empire Athletic Conference play with a 9-6 record, trailing only Desert.
"We certainly battled. There were a lot of chances throughout the course of that game to maybe the outcome being different," said head coach Justus Scott on the team's two-run loss. "You are not going to play perfect baseball especially offensively. You are not always going to get the big hit, but some baserunning miscues early, and maybe a hit or two early, and you are going into that last inning with a lead. But our guys battled."
The Coyotes had 39 at-bats for nine runs on 12 hits with eight RBIs. They had five batters walk and seven batters strike out, and left 13 runners stranded. Julian Minor led the team with four RBIs after going 2-for-5. Braden Chun, Cayden Johnson, Andrew Bain, and Lauren Binney all had an RBI.
The offense showed its resilience by eliminating an early 6-1 deficit to take a 7-6 lead after scoring six runs in the bottom of the third inning. The Coyotes had scored their first run on a sacrifice ground ball hit by Minor to score David Encarnacion in the second inning.
The third-inning rally started with Binney getting a hit, Cayden Trujillo walking, and Christian Wilkes getting hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. That brought Johnson up to bat and he was hit by a pitch to score Binney. Encarnacion hit a run-scoring single to score Trujillo, and Bain followed it with an RBI single to score Wilkes. That cut the deficit to two runs and ended the day for the Eagles' starting pitcher.
Minor faced the relief pitcher and hit a two-run single to tie the game at 6-6. Chase Scott popped out to the third baseman for the second out, and Deri Steiert-Couture was hit by a pitch to load the bases for the second time in the inning. Binney walked in his at bat to score a run and give the Coyotes a 7-6 lead. Trujillo hit a ground ball to the opposing shortstop to be thrown out at first to end the inning.
"That was good. They jumped up early and we battled back and that is always good to see. This has not — through 26-27 games — this certainly has not been easy for us. We haven't hit a stretch really where we are playing up to our capabilities," said Scott on his team erasing a five-run deficit. "It's been tough. They keep on battling, and hopefully at some point it breaks a little bit. I think next week is a good chance with it being non-conference to maybe get it rolling just as far as wins. Like it always does to this conference, it will come down to the last two weeks in the single games."
After taking the lead, the Coyotes gave up four runs in the top of the fourth including a three-run home run. But a double by Minor in the bottom of the sixth scored a run to cut the deficit to two runs, 10-8. Chun came into the game in the bottom of the seventh and hit an RBI single to cut the deficit to one run, 10-9. But that was the closest the home team came to overtaking the visitors, as the Eagles scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth.
The Coyotes had a chance to tie or win the game on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth. Binney, Trujillo, and Chun all got on base to load them with one out. But Anthony Hector popped the ball into foul territory that the opposing third basemen was able to catch for the out, and Encarnacion hit a grounder to the second baseman who made the throw to first to close the game.
Cerro Coso takes a break from Inland Empire Athletic Conference action this week with a two-game series against Compton College. The Coyotes then close the week hosting Moorpark on Saturday. Scott spoke on the upcoming week of non-conference games and what he wants to see from his team.
"We need to get healthy. All three of our first basemen are hurt, which changes things quite a bit. We have some arms that are a little bit tired, but they have to get healthy the same time we are playing. Trying to get a little bit healthy is a big piece of it next week," the Coyotes coach said. "Just again get some wins under our belt and go back into conference with a chance to win the series against Victor Valley."
After the week of non-conference, the Coyotes face Victor Valley in the final three-game series beginning at home on Tuesday with the first pitch at 2:30 p.m. After the series ends, the Coyotes enter the final stretch of Inland Empire Athletic Conference with the final six single games of the season. Scott looked ahead to the single games of conference play.
"Today helps. I'm not really sure yet what they think about these situations. But they are going to be put in there at some point, you make the play, get the big hit or make the big pitch, and next thing you know you won one. We have won some close ones, so again this thing has been a grind so far," he said.