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Cerro Coso faces tough pitching, drops pair in doubleheader

By Tim Allen, Staff Reporter, The Daily Independent

DAILY INDEPENDENT PHOTO BY TIM ALLEN Cerro Coso's Kyle Hanson is thrown out at first base during Game 1 of the Coyotes' doubleheader with College of the Canyons Friday in Ridgecrest as the Cougars' Chris Martinez makes the put out.

Things didn't go quite as planned for Cerro Coso in its impromptu baseball home opener Friday, losing the first game of a doubleheader 12-3 to the visiting Cougars from College of the Canyons. The Coyotes also dropped the nightcap 10-8.

Game one was especially tough as the locals faced a tough lefthander on the mound in Mike Robbins (1-1). Robbins, who had had a tough outing last weekend at the Western States Tournament, had no such difficulties Friday. Robbins set down the first 18 batters he faced, pitching a perfect six innings. He struck out four and walked no one.

“(Robbins) mixed his pitches very well against us,” said Adams, “and he was able to throw more than one pitch for a strike. That made it very tough to settle in on him and get anything going.”

Tyler McAllister finally broke the string with a pinch-hit single in the bottom of the seventh that snaked its way through the left side of the infield. Mark Sayas followed with an RBI double to left-center field and later scored on an infield single by Cam White.

Brett Cobbley (1-1) got the start and the loss for the Coyotes. He went 5-1/3 innings and allowed 7 earned runs on 11 hits. Wes Oliver relieved Cobbley and fared somewhat better, allowing two earned runs on 5 hits over 3-2/3 innings.

But regardless of what the Cerro Coso pitchers did or didn't do, the Cougars made things happen in game one to get runs on the scoreboard. When they weren't sending looping or line-drive singles to the outfield, they'd send them bounding over or between the Coyote defenders on their way to a 17-hit attack.

Game two saw another slow start for the locals while the Cougars jumped out to a lead with a seven-run third.

But in the bottom of the fourth the Coyotes finally sprang to life with a grand slam from Garret Argyle. Cerro Coso scored again in the seventh to cut the lead to 7-5.

But College of the Canyons was able to reopen their lead with a three-run outburst in the top of the eighth that put them ahead to stay.

Jamie Cameron got the started on a limited pitch-count as he comes off a rehab assignment. He threw two strong, scoreless innings before things began to unravel on him. Cameron finished allowing six six earned run on six hits, walking one and striking out four.

Colby Ingram and Clint Williamson pitched in relief.

“The real difference today was that their defense played well and ours didn't,” said Adams. “We had some real trouble picking up flyballs in the first game, but they sure didn't. It looked like they knew how to play our field better than we did.”

Sayas (2-for-5), White (3-for-5) and Ryan Good (2-for-4) lead the attack at the plate for the Coyotes.

Play will continue today at 10 a.m. when College of the Desert takes on Long Beach City College at the Dawg Yard. Cerro Coso will follow that game at approximately 2 p.m. with the finale of the weekend set against the Vikings of LBCC.

Saturday, February 10, 2007