Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
After a weeklong break from conference play and winning three non-conference games – two games against Compton College and a single game against Moorpark – the Cerro Coso Coyotes baseball team returned to Inland Empire Athletic Conference action March 31 hosting Victor Valley in the start of the final three-game series.
After five innings, the Coyotes held a one-run lead, 4-3. The Coyotes offense exploded in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings, scoring 20 runs – 13 in the sixth and seven in the seventh – to secure a 24-6 home win and take a 1-0 lead in the series.
"We did what we were supposed to," said head coach Justus Scott on the win. "Got a lot of ABs, got a couple of guys out of the pen to throw a few innings who haven't thrown in a while, so it's all good."
Cerro Coso had 43 at-bats to score 24 runs on 18 hits with 22 RBIs. The Coyotes had nine batters walk, while six struck out and 10 runners were left stranded. Cayden Johnson led the team with a 4-for-6 showing with five RBIs, both team highs. David Encarnacion went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Andrew Bain went 1-for-4, Cayden Trujillo went 2-for-3, and Christian Wilkes went 2-for-3 with all three earning three RBIs. Robert Mazzarese, Chase Scott, Anthony Hector, Gabe Duchow, and Deri Steiert-Couture all had an RBI.
Jacob Rice started on the mound, going six innings giving up three earned runs on seven hits against 26 batters for a walk and strikeout. Andre Carrillo was the first relief pitcher out of the bullpen and he threw a scoreless inning without giving up a hit. He faced three batters with a strikeout. Ian Rasmussen threw a scoreless inning, giving up a hit against four batters with two strikeouts. Eric Galvan closed the game throwing the final inning, giving up three earned runs on three hits against nine batters with a walk.
The Coyotes jumped out to an early 4-0 lead scoring two runs in the first and second. A sacrifice fly to left field by Bain and a wild pitch scored the first two runs in the first. In the second, a double by Trujillo and a double by Encarnacion gave the home team a 4-0 lead. But the Coyotes were held scoreless for the next three innings, and the visitors scored two runs in the third and one in the fifth to cut the lead to a single run.
The sixth inning began with the Coyotes loading the bases with Hector, Steiert-Couture, and Trujillo. Wilkes got a hit to score Hector, and Johnson hit a three-run double to clear the bases for an 8-3 lead. That led to a pitching change by the visitors.
The Coyotes reloaded the bases with Encarnacion and Bain reaching with Johnson. Scott walked to score a run, Hector scored a run on a hit, and Duchow walked for an 11-3 lead. Steiert-Couture grounded to the opposing second baseman for the second out and scored a run. Trujillo hit a two-run triple for a 14-3 lead, which led to the second pitching change of the inning.
Wilkes went up against the new pitcher and hit a two-run home run to center field and over the blue wall, and that brought up Johnson who hit a solo shot to center field for a 17-3 lead. Encarnacion got a hit to reach first before Bain flied out to right field to end a 36-minute inning.
"That's always fun, especially when you go back-to-back, it doesn't happen much," Scott said on the back-to-back home runs. "It's nice, and I think probably the first four or five innings, we as a hitting unit were way out in front and kind of maybe looking to do that on a windy day, that's a guess. We settled down a little bit and started hitting the ball in the middle, and you saw balls get driven more."
With a 17-3 lead, the Coyote offense continued where it left off in the bottom of the seventh. The Coyotes loaded the bases with Hector walking and Duchow and Steiert-Couture being hit by pitches with one out. After Braden Chun struck out, Mazzarese was walked, Johnson was hit by a pitch, and Dax Patton hit a two-run double for a 21-3 lead.
That led to a pitching change for Victor Valley, and Bain followed a two-run single. Chase Scott got a hit to put two runners on base, and Hector hit a double to score a run. Duchow struck out to end the inning with the home team leading 24-3. The Cerro Coso coach spoke on his team's offensive surge in the sixth and seventh innings.
"It was 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth, you kind of not necessarily go 'uh oh,' you don't panic. But in the sixth I was hoping to get one or two and get a little bit of a cushion. Some defensive miscues, some walks, and we also hit the baseball that inning. Big inning for us and that kind of put it away," Scott said.
The series continued with the Coyotes visiting the Rams Thursday and then returns to Cerro Coso on Saturday with the first pitch at 1 p.m. After a huge win, Scott spoke on his message to his team as they look to earn a road win and win the series.
"This one is over and you have to keep playing good baseball, because baseball is one of those sports where anything can happen, anybody can beat anybody," he said. "So, it can't be a trap game for us. We have to play good baseball, and if we do that, we will be all right."