Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
Cerro Coso baseball and San Bernardino Valley went into the final game of a three-game series tied at 1-1 with the Roadrunners winning the first game at Cerro Coso and the Coyotes winning on the road at Valley. In Saturday's finale, the Coyotes came from behind to tie the game and then got a 9-8 win on a walk-off hit. This was the last series before the single games with the Coyotes fighting with Desert, Mt. San Jacinto, and Victor Valley for a playoff spot.
In a game that had momentum swing in favor of both squads, the Coyotes won in dramatic, walk-off fashion with two outs and a runner on third, with Kyle Phin getting a hit past the Valley second baseman to score the winning run. With the win, the Coyotes jumped into third place trailing leaders Chaffey and runner-up Desert, tied with Mt. San Jacinto but ahead due to overall record.
"We are at the point of the season where you have to keep winning if you want to play postseason," said head coach Justus Scott on his team winning the game and the series. "We competed. We are not playing great baseball but we are in, where like today, we kept it close and we were able to chip away. Things are not falling our way a little bit, but it's a great win. It's always nice to walk it off, like I always say."
Cerro Coso went into the sixth trailing 7-4 with Kanon Welbourne on the mound. The Coyote pitcher gave up back-to-back hits but his defense was able to catch the Wolverine runner trying to steal second for the first out. The second out came on a sacrifice fly to left field and the last was a line drive to Dariel Rios' glove. The Coyotes went into the bottom of the inning trailing by four runs.
The Coyotes' offense loaded the bases with a hit from Jordan Boman, Phin getting a walk, and Bo McKee getting a hit. Lauren Binney was at bat and drove home two runs with a hit that got past the Valley shortstop. Andrew Bain continued the rally driving home another run with a hit past the second baseman. Ariel Rodriguez tried to continue the rally but hit into a double play with a line drive to the second baseman's glove, who then made the throw to first to get the Coyote runner out. During Isaac Martinez's at-bat, Binney scored the tying run on a wild pitch before Martinez struck out.
The game would stay tied at 8-8 until the ninth inning, which included Welbourne and the defense keeping a runner stranded on third in the seventh, and stranding a runner at second in the top of the ninth. But the Coyotes also had a chance to take a lead with bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the eighth until Martinez struck out.
Cerro Coso had the top of the order in the bottom of the ninth with Cayden Johnson as the leadoff batter, but he struck out. Rios was next at bat and got a hit to the left field fence for a triple. Boman was next at bat but hit a ground ball to the Wolverine third baseman, forcing Rios to hold at third as Boman was thrown out at first for the second out. Phin was at bat and got a hit past the second baseman to bring home Rios for the 9-8 walk-off win.
Scott praised the middle and bottom of his lineup for having an impressive day and being able to give the Coyotes the chance needed to win on a walk-off, and he praised the work of his bullpen and defense in keeping the game close.
"The inning before in the eighth, we left the bases loaded, but we went through that lineup and got back to the top of the order, so little things like that might go unnoticed," he said. "But that was probably one of the bigger reasons why we were able to push one across in the ninth. We had opportunities throughout the game; we left the bases loaded three times. You are not always going to get the hit, but I think that's what's kind of going on right now weeks before we put 15 or 18 by getting those two-out hits here and there.
"That was the decision with Welbourne. He usually doesn't go down to the bullpen until the seventh inning, but how that game was going, we just needed to stop them a bit and see if we can score some. And it worked out for us."
Johnson started on the mound for the Coyotes, throwing four innings and giving up nine hits for seven runs, all earned. He faced 25 batters and finished with four walks and four strikeouts. Chase Cummins threw a scoreless inning with no hits. He faced five batters for two walks and a strikeout. Welbourne closed the final four innings, giving up four hits for an earned run. He faced 17 batters and finished with a walk and six strikeouts.
The offense as a whole had 41 at-bats for nine runs on 16 hits including eight RBIs. The Coyotes had five walks, six strikeouts, and left 12 runners stranded on base including leaving the bases load on three occasions. Phin and Binney led the team with two RBIs each. Rios, McKee, Bain, and Martinez all had an RBI. Rios, Bain, and Martinez each had a stolen base.
The win was vital for the Coyotes as it keeps them in the hunt for the postseason. Scott said on the winning giving his team momentum going into the final stretch, "hopefully it kinds of gets us fired up with what we are in. But now we are down to the singles, so six games left and basically 12 practices. It's going to come down to these six with us, Desert, San Jac are all kind of in the hunt. We get Desert once and San Jac once; we just have to take care of our business and we are OK."
Cerro Coso has six games remaining in conference play. The Coyotes begin the final stretch hosting Desert on Thursday. The first pitch is 2:30 p.m.
San Bernardino Valley scored a run in the top of the first with Johnson on the mound for the home team. The Wolverines had two runners on base from back-to-back walks before a hit drove home a run. The Coyotes responded by scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning. Johnson was the leadoff batter but hit a routine grounder. Rios got a hit and Boman got a hit with an error from the Wolverine infield dropping a pop ball that got lost in the sun. Phin and McKee got back-to-back hits to drive home two runs to take a 2-1 lead.
In the top of the second, Valley scored four runs beginning with two runners scoring on a triple. The visitors than scored another run on a double and scored a fifth run on a hit. The Coyotes responded by scoring two runs that started with back-to-back hits from Bain and Rodriguez. Martinez scored a run on a double and Rios scored a run on a hit. The Coyotes came close to tying the game but Martinez was thrown out at home plate.
In the third and fourth innings, San Bernardino Valley scored a run in each inning. In the third, the Wolverines scored on a solo home run and in the fourth scored a run on back-to-back doubles. In both of those innings, the Coyotes' offense was able to load the bases but was unable to score a run. The Wolverines led 7-4 going into the sixth.