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Coyote winning streak reaches five

Coso still unbeaten in Foothill play

By Nathan Ahle, The Daily Independent

"We were going into hostile territory and I told him, 'You have to be the guy,'" Adams said. "But he (Penn) really stepped up."

In what Head Coach Dick Adams called a "huge" win, the Cerro Coso Coyotes picked up their fourth-straight Foothill Conference win and fifth overall win in a row with a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the Chaffey College Panthers in Rancho Cucamonga Thursday.

The Panthers, one of the conference's perennial powers, played scoreless baseball with Cerro Coso (10-3, 4-0 Foothill) through four innings, but the Coyotes got it started with two runs in the top of the fifth. Antoine McLeod, batting ninth, was hit by a pitch, and reached third base on a two-base throwing error by the Chaffey pitcher. Kip Keith followed with a two-run home run over the left-center field fence.

The Panthers got a run off Coyote starter Ryan Penn in the fifth inning, and then grabbed two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead, which held into the eighth inning.

The Coyotes got three in the eighth to give Penn his fourth win. Nick Wagner got things started in the inning after being hit by a pitch. Penn bunted the runner to second, and Matt Smith singled to the outfield and scored Wagner. Catcher Adam Auer followed with a double that scored Smith. Caleb Gallagher struck out, and Norm Love followed with a walk. Rodney Black gave Cerro Coso an insurance run with a bloop base hit that scored Auer.

Darren Green replaced Penn in the bottom of the eighth, but Penn earned the win by being pitcher of record when Cerro Coso took the lead. Green gave up a run in the bottom of the eighth, but Cerro Coso failed to score in the top of the ninth.

Green came back out in the bottom of the ninth and allowed an infield hit to the leadoff hitter. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runner into scoring position, Green forced a groundout to second base and then got the last Panther hitter to strike out swinging to end the game.

When it was all said and done, Adams was very pleased with his team's performance.

"That was huge," Adams said. "They (Chaffey) were pesky, they stayed on us, but we got timely hitting and made only one error."

Adams also had high praise for his starter, adding that Penn took the mound after battling illness all week.

"We were going into hostile territory and I told him, 'You have to be the guy,'" Adams said. "But he (Penn) really stepped up."

The right-hander, who will attend Fresno State next season, allowed eight hits and three runs over seven full innings, striking out four. Green struck out two in his two-inning relief stint.

Offensively, the Coyotes got multi-hit games from Auer (2-for-4) and Smith (2-for-5), with hits from McLeod, Keith and Wagner.

Saturday, the Coyotes will square off against Chaffey in a doubleheader at the Dawg Yard. Ryan Hayden will pitch the seven-inning opening game, and Matt Smith is scheduled to pitch in the nine-inning nightcap. The first pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for noon.

After the series with Chaffey, Cerro Coso will face off against San Bernardino Valley College next week.

March 5, 2004

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