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Golden West pitching brings wild end to Coyote losing streak

By Cheeto Barrera, Sports Editor, The Daily Independent

DAILY INDEPENDENT PHOTO BY NATHAN AHLE Kyle Tullis delivers a pitch during Cerro Coso's game against Golden West on Saturday. Tullis went seven innings, giving up four runs on 10 hits and striking out seven in a no decision effort. The Coyotes snappend their six game losing streak thanks to a wild pitch in the 10th inning.

Of the five runs that Cerro Coso scored on Saturday, three were the result of Golden West pitching mistakes - one ended the game.

With runners at second and third with two outs and the score tied 4-4 in the 10th inning, Rustler pitcher Jeff Roth threw a ball in the dirt that catcher Billy Nowlin couldn't corral.

As the ball rolled to the backstop, Cameron White darted from third and crossed the plate surrounded by his teammates who had cleared from the Coyote bench.

The run not only ended the game, but ended a six-game skid.

“Baseball is such a goofy game, we win the game on a wild pitch,” said coach Dick Adams. “That just tell you that we are just hitting .270 as a team - we are going to have some luck to win.”

And luck was on the Dawgs' side on Saturday.

In the seventh inning, after allowing just one run on seven hits and yielding one walk through six, pitcher Kyle Tullis gave up a two-out, three-run homerun to Justin Wheeler.

In the bottom half of the inning, Tyler McAllister stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by starting catcher Matt Martinez. He came around to score one pitch later that starter Corey Lenzen threw wild to cut the deficit to two runs.

“We put a run on the board that was huge right there, cut it to 4-2,” Adams said. “That was a big run right there to give us a chance. Three's hard to come back, two makes it easier.”

Tullis was pulled in favor of Colby Ingram in the eighth inning, who kept Golden West off the score board despite loading the bases on a hit and two hit batters.

The Dawgs responded in the eighth by jumping on Roth, who came in with one out in the inning.

Lenzon had held the Dawgs' top-three hitters to a combined 2-9 with five strikeouts. One run was charged to Lenzon, but it was scored after he had been pulled from the game.

For the game, Lenzon held Cerro Coso batters 6-25 with six punchouts, one walk and hit a batter. He was dinged for three runs, two earned.

Against Roth, the top three went 3-5 with an RBI. The Coyote line up recorded five hits in two and a third innings of work racking up two runs against Roth.

Jon Proesl started the comeback in the eighth inning by hitting a one out double to score Mark Sayas.

Two batters later, Kyle Hanson drew a two-out walk to load the bases. McAllister was then hit by a pitch to score Royal Good.

Golden West had an opportunity to take the lead in the ninth loading the bases on a single and two walks, one intentional. With two outs, Ryan Gorzitze who started the inning was replaced by Garrett Argyle.

Argyle got pinch hitter Cole Hockenberry to ground out to first for an unassisted put out and sending the game into the second extra inning game in as many days.

Argyle - who faced the top of the lineup in the 10th inning - retired the Rustlers in order on three ground outs to short.

“Our pitching staff did a good job at keep us in this game (and) our defense did a good job,” Adams said. “But we got a couple of timely hits.”

The Coyotes, who improve to 5-10 overall, have one game to go before the start of Foothill Conference play. The Dawgs will take on El Camino on the road on Saturday before coming home March 8 against Barstow to the conference opener.

Golden West now holds a 10-6 overall record.

Adams said he was encouraged by the way Cerro Coso played against the 10th ranked team in Southern California. He added that if his players can compete like they did against Golden West - going a combined 22 innings in two days - they should fair well in future games.

“They played hard for two games,” Adams said. “We proved to ourselves that we play hard we have a chance to play with anybody.”

Tuesday, February 27, 2007