The Cerro Coso baseball team had an enormous task in front of them leading into the final week of the season. In order for the Coyotes to have a chance for postseason selection, they would need to complete a three game sweep of first place, San Bernardino Valley College. In a back and forth contest at home Tuesday afternoon, the Coyotes were able to start the week off right with a 13-8 win. This would leave them on the road to play the spoiler role at SBVC. The Thursday matchup between the IEAC rivals was tightly contested. Starting pitcher, Peyton Sutherland ran into early trouble but took the Coyotes into the second inning with a 5-3 lead. Coach Scott would not wait around and immediately called on the bullpen for relief by way of Jacob Ortiz. Ortiz would go on to pitch a gritty 6 innings, that would see the game locked in an 8-8 tie through 8 innings. However the Coyotes would continue to persevere and put up a 3 spot in the top of the 9th inning. From there, Moises Serano would enter the closing role for the second time in two games, and the 3 run lead would be all he needed, as the Coyotes would go on to win the game by a score of 11-9.
With a shot at a second place finish in the IEAC and a chance at a postseason bid, it was all on the line for Friday's final regular season contest. The start would go to sophomore pitcher, Trevor French, who would go on to battle for 3 2/3 innings and handed the ball over to reliever Ashton Coates with a 12-2 lead. Coates would be able to hold the Wolverines offense at bay for the next inning before handing passing the game on to relief pitcher Carlos Soto. Soto would enter the game and take control from that point by showing tremendous adversity by pitching the Coyotes to victory over the next four innings. Cerro Coso was lead offensively by Brent Olmo who had a 3-5 day at the plate which included a huge 3 run HR, and 5 total RBIs.
The Coyotes will await their postseason fate until Sunday after CCCBCA meetings are held. At which point playoff seedings and All Conference selections will be announced.
