Eduardo Miranda

The Daily Independent

After being swept by Chaffey and losing in walk-off fashion in 13 innings to San Bernardino Valley College to open the series, the Cerro Coso Coyotes baseball team returned home looking to snap a four-game losing streak and even the series with the Wolverines. After three innings, the Coyotes trailed the Wolverines 5-0 but started a comeback run to secure a 19-11 home win to even the series. Cerro Coso improves to 14-15 overall and 7-6 in Inland Empire Athletic Conference for fourth place. Head Coach Justus Scott spoke on his team's win and the composure of his players after falling behind to make a run to steal the win.

"The comeback is always good," he said. "With the wind you have to hit and outscore them and we did. It's a big thing (keeping their composure) especially with nine or 10 more conference games. You have to win them. We are in a position where we have to win them all or pretty close to it."

The Coyotes bats began to connect with the ball and find openings in the Wolverines defense in the bottom of the third where they scored two runs. They scored five in the fourth including a two-run home run from Justin Austin, three in the fifth from a three-run home run from Cole Fowler, five in the seventh, and four in the eight. But the defense and bullpen struggled giving up two runs in the fourth, one in the fifth, one in the eight, and two in the ninth. The game turned in favor of the home team in the sixth and seventh when Herbie Mitchell took the mound.

In those two innings, Mitchell retired the side allowing the Coyotes offense to not only hold onto a 10-7 lead but extend it in the bottom of the seventh. In the sixth, he got the first two runners he faced to groundout and Jonluke Hobdy made an impressive diving save in right field for the final out. In the seventh, he got the first two batters to groundout and struck out the batter for the final out. That strong showing on the mound and the solid defensive performance allowed the Coyotes to secure the win from San Bernadino Valley.

The Coyotes offense had 48 at bats for 19 runs on 25 hits with 19 RBIs. They had seven batters walk, six strikeouts, and left 13 runners stranded on base. Fowler and Austin led the team with four RBIs each. Hobdy had three RBIs and Gavin Fraser had two. Ariel Rodriguez and Fraser led the team in runs scored with four each. Seth Moore and Hobdy both had three runs scored and Fowler had two.

The Coyotes began with Carson Lee on the mound who threw 2.1 innings allowing four hits for five runs with four earned and two walks and two strikeouts. Jacob Rice went 0.2 innings allowing a hit with a walk and a strikeout. Aidan Johnson threw two innings giving up three hits for three runs with two earned and three walks. Mitchell threw three innings allowing two hits for one earned run with a walk and three strikeouts. Ian Rasmussen closed the game going an inning with a hit for two earned runs and a walk and a strikeout.

The Coyotes close the series on the road at San Bernardino Valley and Scott said his team is in position to take two out of three, which they need. He wants to see his players figuring out how to win in a low scoring game or a high scoring game, as they had chances to win the opener but lost in 13 innings with the Wolverines getting the big hits against his team.

The Coyotes then begin a three-game series against the Inland Empire Athletic Conference third place Desert with the first game set for Tuesday at Cerro Coso. The first pitch is at 2:30 p.m.