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Golden West overcomes Coso in weekend series

By Nathan Ahle, The Daily Independent

DAILY INDEPENDENT PHOTO BY MIKE DELANEY
Urbano Sanchez delivers during the late innings in the Coyotes' 7-4 loss in the first game on Saturday. Sanchez, a sophomore, pitched 2 1/3 innings and allowed three hits and struck out two. DAILY INDEPENDENT PHOTO BY MIKE DELANEY

The Cerro Coso Coyotes baseball team began the home portion of its 2005 schedule Friday and Saturday at the Dawg Yard with a three-game series with Golden West College. The Rustlers took the upper hand in the series with victories Friday night and Saturday afternoon in the first two games of the series.

Friday was supposed to feature a doubleheader, but rain forced the two teams to play a single game, won by the Rustlers by a score of 18-5.

Golden West held a 6-2 lead going into the seventh inning, but broke the game open with an eight-run inning off reliever Chad Sherwood. Six of the Golden West runs were earned, and another four-run frame in the ninth by the visitors completed the rout.

Caleb Gallagher started for the Coyotes and took the loss, allowing 11 hits and six earned runs in six innings of work. Cory Rickets and Adam Cyrynowski also threw for the locals.

Andrew Masojc had the top day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored, while sophomore Matt Smith went 1-for-4 with two runs batted in.

The Coyotes and Rustlers locked horns in a Saturday doubleheader, with the Coyotes dropping the opener 7-4.

Golden West scored four runs quickly in the top half of the first inning and the Coyotes were unable to recover.

Starting pitcher Aaron Keplinger, who had pitched solidly through early preseason action, struggled, allowing 15 hits and seven runs in 6 2/3 innings of work. The freshman struck out three Golden West hitters on the day. Reliever Urbano Sanchez came in and struck out two and allowed three hits in 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief.

Offensively, Matt Smith was the only Coyotes player with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Smith also drilled a double, as did Adam Auer, Tyler Curran, Liam Tennant, and Rodney Black.

The Coyotes salvaged the weekend with a 5-4 win over the Rustlers in the seven-inning nightcap of the doubleheader. Adam Garner, one of Cerro Coso's relief specialists, got the win in relief, pitching 2 1/3 innings and allowing only two hits and striking out one.

"Adam pitched really well," said Coyotes Head Coach Dick Adams.

The Coyotes scored two runs in the fourth inning to move back into the game after trailing 3-0. With one out, Gallagher singled, followed by Kyle Cooper's single. After a walk to Curran, the Coyotes scored on two passed balls by the Golden West catcher and an RBI single by Tennant.

Trailing 4-2 in the fifth, Masojc led off with a single and Matt Smith doubled him to third. Auer grounded out to second base, scoring Masojc, and Gallagher followed with a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Smith to tie the game.

In the sixth inning, Curran reached on an error, was moved to second on a sacrifice, and later scored on an error by the pitcher. Garner shut down the Rustlers in the top of the seventh to preserve the victory.

"This was a good win for us," said Adams, pleased at his team's ability to rally to win. "We had the right guys up at the right times."

At 4-6 in conference play, Cerro Coso will now begin the true test of their mettle: Foothill Conference play.

"Conference will be a good test for us," Adams said. "We'll take a look at what we've done well in our wins and what we've done badly in our losses."

The Coyotes open conference play at home against College of the Desert Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m., and will travel to Palm Desert for a doubleheader on Saturday.

February 27, 2005