Eduardo Miranda

The Daily Independent

The Cerro Coso baseball team hosted Inland Empire Athletic Conference opponent Desert on Saturday, April 8th in a game rescheduled from February due to weather. The Coyotes came back from 4-0 deficit to tie the game and take a 6-5 lead in the fourth. Cerro Coso's defense was able to hold runners in scoring position and get out of jams to secure a conference win over the team trailing them in fourth place. Head Coach Justus Scott spoke on the conference win.

"That's a big win this time of year with six left and they were chasing us for third place," he said. "We were able to bury them a little further behind us. All day long from the first pitch it was a high-pressure game every pitch, every at bat for both sides. Our guys came through."

The win gives the Coyotes a 12-6 conference record and a 20-13 overall record. The Coyotes are currently sitting in third place in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference with six games remaining both are three-game series with Mt. San Jacinto and Chaffey, the two teams above them in conference.

In the win, Scott credited his team's defense in getting out of jams and holding 11 runners in scoring position on multiple occasions. He said that a lot of times that is the difference when you look back games on why you won and why you lost. It comes down to you weren't able to drive guys in scoring position or you were able to stop them from scoring.

Cerro Coso begin a three-game series with the No. 2 team in conference Mt. San Jacinto with a home game on Tuesday at 2 p.m. and then back-to-back road games on Friday and Saturday. Scott spoke on how the win can give his team momentum for the final six.

"It's big and again we played two tough games up at their place and lost in extra innings both of them having the lead," he said. "This is twofold it gets us rolling to the next six and also gets that monkey off the back a little bit. You know a little check swing, base hit in the ninth I'm sure guys were thinking oh here we go again."

The Coyotes gave the start to Jax Holzem who threw six innings giving up five earned runs on 10 hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Jake Ridding was called to close throwing three scoreless innings where he allowed only two hits. He finished with three walks and seven strikeouts. The Cerro Coso offense scored six runs on nine hits with five RBIs.

The game began with Desert scoring two runs in the top of the first with Holzem giving up hits to the first two batters he faced. He then got the next to ground out to first but a double scored two runs. The Coyotes offense had Jordan Boman reach first on a hit and Brentt Olmo get on base after being hit by a pitch. But the inning ended with a Desert double play on Hunter Bagshaw's hit.

Desert added two more runs in the second after loading the bases, Holzem got the batter to hit a ground ball that scored the runner at third but the Coyotes were able to get the runner on second out at third. The Coyotes pitcher gave up another hit that scored another run. The home team went into the bottom of the inning trailing 4-0 and Holzem and Jackson Alaniz both flew out to center field. After Dominic Lopez and Jordan Chatman got on base, Blake Tablazon hit a two-run double. Jonluke Hobdy got on base with a hit and Boman hit a two-run triple to tie the game at 4-4.

In the third, Cerro Coso held Desert scoreless and began the offense with Bagshaw walking to first. Holzem and Alaniz got on to load the bases and Lopez brought Bagshaw home but was thrown out in a double play. Chatman hit an RBI single to score the final run for the Coyotes in a 6-4 lead.

Desert responded with a run in the top of the fourth. Holzem gave up a leadoff triple and Desert followed it with a sacrifice fly to score a run. Holzem was able to recover and got the final two outs on a ground ball and strikeout. The Coyotes offense was retired by the Roadrunners.

Both teams went scoreless the final five innings and each had chances to add more runs to the scoreboard. In the top of the sixth, Holzem was in a jam with the bases loaded and one out. But he got the final two outs on line drives and the defense was able to hold the runners. In the bottom of the eight, the Coyote had the bases loaded with one out but watched Tablazon and Hobdy strikeout.