Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
With four games left in Inland Empire Athletic Conference action, the Cerro Coso baseball team hosted San Bernardino Valley in a battle between the Nos. 2 and 3 teams in the conference. Each team went into the game on April 11 needing a win to stay in the hunt for a spot in the 3C2A playoffs, and in the end, the Coyotes came from behind and held on late to win a 10-9 nail-biter.
The Coyotes needed a big seven-run fifth inning to erase a six-run deficit to take a 9-8 lead. The Coyotes added an insurance run in the sixth that they ended up needing, giving up a run in the eighth. The Coyotes went into the final inning leading 10-9, and held the tying run at third to secure the home win.
"That was a big win. Just the win itself was a big win, but how we did it was kind of special. They jumped up early obviously, and then we had a huge fifth inning. That momentum switch, you can feel the energy," said head coach Justus Scott on his team's win.
The Coyotes got the start they wanted with David Encarnacion hitting a line drive to the opposing left fielder, who dropped the catch and then made a bad throw trying to get Encarnacion out, which allowed Andrew Bain and Cayden Trujillo to score for a 2-1 lead.
But the Wolverines turned the game around in the third when they loaded the bases with back-to-back hit-by-pitches against starting pitcher Johnathan Gonzalez. The visitors hit a grand slam to take a 5-2 lead, and then a triple and a single extended the lead to 6-2, which ended Gonzalez's day. Andre Carrillo came out of the bullpen to end the inning.
Carrillo gave up a run in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly to right field and then another run on a solo homer in the top of the fifth. Cerro Coso went into the bottom of the inning trailing 8-2 with all the momentum with the opposing team and the home crowd silent.
Up to that point, the Coyote offense had chances to score more runs, but in the second and fourth had runners in scoring position that got erased on Trujillo inning-ending double plays.
In the bottom of the fifth, Bain got on base after being hit by a pitch and Cayden Johnson struck out. Christian Wilkes was up to bat and hit a two-run blast, cutting the deficit in half and ending the Wolverines' starting pitcher's day.
Against the new pitcher, Encarnacion hit a ground-rule double and Julian Minor hit a triple to score Encarnacion. Chase Scott brought Minor home after hitting a double, and Gabe Duchow brought Scott home after getting a hit to cut the deficit to a run. After the second pitching change of the inning, Anthony Hector walked against the new pitcher and Trujillo hit a two-run double to take a 9-8 lead that brought the home crowd to its feet.
The Coyotes added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly to right field for a 10-8 lead. In the top of the eighth, Rafeal Echeverria gave up a hit for a run that cut the lead to 10-9.
Johnson was on the mound going for the save. He gave up a leadoff double, but got the next batter to strike out and then the following popped out to Wilkes in foul territory. The opposing runner stole third before the second out, but the final out came on a flyball to Braden Chun in right field.
Gonzalez started on the mound and went 2.1 innings, giving up six runs, all earned, on seven hits. He faced 16 batters for a strikeout but gave up a home run. That turned the game into a bullpen affair, with Carrillo the first out of the pen. He threw 2.2 innings, giving up two runs, both earned, on five hits. He faced 11 batters for three strikeouts and gave up a home run. Cory Kent threw a scoreless no-hit inning, facing the minimum. Echeverria threw two innings, giving up one earned run on three hits against 10 batters for a walk and two strikeouts. Johnson closed the game throwing a scoreless inning, giving up one hit against four batters.
"They tacked one on and could have gotten a few more. Carrillo did a good job of buckling down and keeping it a one-run inning, a solo homer — that happens," Coach Scott said on his bullpen's performance. "Echeverria on short rest, we were planning to use him for one, but he looked good and the ball was firm. So, we threw him a second and then Johnson a leadoff double, bared down and competed."
The offense finished with 31 at-bats to score 10 runs on 11 hits with nine RBIs. The Coyotes had seven batters walk, six struck out, and eight runners were left stranded. Trujillo and Wilkes both went 2-for-5 and Minor was 1-for-3, with each having two RBIs. Encarnacion, Scott, and Duchow all had an RBI in the comeback win.
The comeback win keeps the Coyotes in second place behind Desert in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference standings with three games left, and it ties the series with the Wolverines at 2-2. The win also keeps the Coyotes in a good place to keep their playoff hopes alive.
"It's a big win in that it would have been harder on us or maybe looking for a tiny bit of help if we dropped this one. Each game gets closer but in our control. Funny things happen in baseball, but now we have to take care of business on Tuesday. We get to enjoy this win and be done with it," the Coyotes coach said.
Cerro Coso (21-15, 14-7 IEAC) hosts Chaffey in the final conference home game on Tuesday with the first pitch at 2:30 p.m. The Coyotes then close the season on a two-game road trip visiting Mt. San Jacinto on Thursday and then Victor Valley on Tuesday, April 24. Scott spoke on Tuesday's home finale and the confidence his team has going into the final games after an impressive comeback win.
"Now it means more than this one even though this one was big. You have to take care of business on Tuesday, and some of these sophomores, this will be the last time on this field," he said. "It means a lot to these guys, and they handled being down well. There wasn't a lot of panic, and that's always big. Soon as you start panicking, sometimes it's hard to come back."