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Cerro Coso pitching roughed up in weekend series sweep

By Cheeto Barrera, Sports Editor, The Daily Independent

“My team has not proven that they can come back from large deficits”

Cerro Coso pitching, normally a constant for coach Dick Adams, was shelled for 24 runs in two games against San Bernardino Valley as the Wolverines completed a three-game sweep of the Coyotes.

In game one, the Coyotes fell 10-5 and later 14-10 in game two.

“My team has not proven that they can come back from large deficits,” Adams said.

In five plus innings in the first game, Kyle Tullis and Colby Ingram combined for 10 runs — seven earned — on 12 hits and four walks.

San Bernardino struck fast with four runs in the first inning.

None of the hits were blasts, just a series of singles that allowed the Wolverines to have a revolving door of batters.

The big blow in the inning came with two on and one out when a shot by Aaron Larson was mishandled by Royal Good, allowing him to advance to third on a two-base error and scoring the two runners.

Cerro Coso got one run back in its half of the first when Good — who reached on a fielder’s choice — came around to score following a Jon Proesl double and a sac-fly by Cameron White.

Tullis appeared to settle down in the second inning, retiring the top of the line up after giving up a lead off single to the nine-hole batter Zack Baker.

But an error in the third inning and a pair of walks led to the fifth Wolverine run of the day, and ending Tullis’ day after recording just one out.

Ingram came in relief and forced two ground outs to end the inning.

He was roughed up in the fourth when the lead off hitters both got on and later came around to score to extend the San Bernardino lead to 7-1.

The Coyotes had an opportunity in the second when Fredrick Bello drew a lead off walk and attempted to steel second as Andrew Hill waved at strike three.

Bello had the base stolen by a mile, but was called out when the umpire ruled that Hill had interfered with the catcher.

Cody Reiger received a two-out walk but a Mark Sayas pop-up ended the inning.

Cerro Coso had several chances against Keith Pezant, who featured mostly off-speed pitches and threw a lot of balls. Of his 74 pitches, 40 missed the strike zone, walking six batters in five innings of work.

The Coyotes received 14 free passes in the two games, but couldn’t bring anyone home.

San Bernardino added two more in the sixth inning and were shut out in the seventh, giving Cerro Coso a 10-1 deficit to make up in the final inning of the first game of the double header.

The Coyotes began to chip away at the lead with Proesl hitting a one out, bases loaded double to drive in Nick Parker and Sayas.

Good, who had reached after being hit by a pitch, came around to score one batter later when Dallas McDaniel threw a ball in the dirt that squirted to the back stop. Proesl added one more run coming around to score on a ground out by Kyle Hanson.

But that would be it for the Coyotes who fell 10-5.

In the second game, the Wolverines had two big scoring innings, to rack up 14 points through five.

Once again, the Coyote pitching couldn’t fool San Bernardino, who jumped on fast balls, often on the first pitch.

The Wolverines jumped out to a 5-0 lead far the first inning and extended it to 7-0 with two in the second.

The fifth inning sealed the game for San Bernardino who put up seven runs, including a home run by John Garcia.

Cerro Coso battled in the third with three runs and scored one more in the fifth.

The Coyotes scored three in both the sixth and eighth innings, but weren’t able to overcome the 11 run deficit by the Wolverines in the fifth.

Cerro Coso left eight runners on base, seven of which were in scoring position.

“If we get a two-out base hit that would be huge,” Adams said. “But we didn’t do a good job with two outs.”

But Adams said even if the run production was better, his team still needed to over come 24 runs put up by San Bernardino.

“We left guys on base and they scored 24 runs,” Adams said. “We didn’t pitch well but it wasn’t like we were committing a bunch of errors.”

The Coyotes now fall to 3-3 in Foothill Conference play (9-13 overall).

Cerro Coso will open a three-game series against Antelope Valley on Thursday at home starting at 4 p.m. The Coyotes will then play a double header against Antelope Valley on the road on Saturday starting at noon.

Thursday’s game will be aired on 1360 AM KWDJ.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

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