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Coyotes manage split against Rio Hondo

By Cheeto Barrera, Sports Editor, The Daily Independent

“Those are good stats, but what do you do with four errors?”

Late inning heroics saved Cerro Coso against Rio Hondo in the first game of a double header on Saturday, but the same heroics couldn’t be repeated in game two.

Cameron White and Fred Bello both hit solo homeruns as the Coyotes came back from a 3-0 deficit to win 5-4.

In the second game, Cerro Coso had the tying run on third in the seventh inning with one out and a squeez bunt got popped up for a double play to end the inning and end the threat. The Roadrunners went on to win 5-4.

Coach Dick Adams said he was disappointed with the lack of consistency by the team, but praised the effort of Brett Cobbley.

“This a team struggling to try to play consistently,” Adams said. “In the first game, we had the big base hit” and weren’t able to do it a second time in game two.

Cobbley, however, went a complete eight innings, not having to pitch the ninth since Rio Hondo had the lead, giving up five runs, one earned, on nine hits and striking out five.

“Those are good stats, but what do you do with four errors?” Adams said.

It was Cobbley’s second complete game in as many starts after he went the distance in a win over Pasadena to close out the Mashin’ in the Mojave tournament.

Cerro Coso now goes to 13-21 overall and 5-9 in Foothill Conference play.

The two teams will meet up again today to make up Thursday’s game that was cancelled because of wind. Rio Hondo, which is second in the conference behind Chaffey, is now in a must win against the Coyotes.

A loss will throw second place in question as College of the Desert is nipping on Rio Hondo’s heals, with an 11-7 conference record.

“They don’t dare lose to us again,” Adams said. “A loss throws them into tie depending on what the other teams do.”

Adams is confident that the Coyotes can give Rio Hondo a run for its money today based on how well they played in game one and how close they were able to keep game two.

In the first game, the Roadrunners had jumped out to an early 3-0 lead which they held into the fifth inning of the seven inning game.

Bello started the inning off by hitting a solo jack to break the shutout.

He was followed by Cody Reiger who hit a double and Sayas who singled. They were both driven in by Royal Good who doubled to tie the game at 3-3.

Rio Hondo responded in the bottom of the fifth with a run of its own to retake the lead at 4-3.

In the seventh inning, with two out and Good standing on first after being walked, White hit a monster shot over the center field wall to give Cerro Coso a 5-4 lead that they wouldn’t give up.

Tyler McAllister came in the seventh and shut down the Roadrunners for his seventh save of the season.

Jessie Zuber despite giving up four earned runs, recorded his third win.

“Zuber pitched effectively after settling down from the first couple of innings,” Adams said.

Adams said he was hoping that after the dramatics of the first game, that the second would see some carry over.

However, four errors and an untimely mistake killed a chance at stealing two from the Roadrunners.

In the second inning, Kyle Hanson evened the score at 1-1 with a solo homer.

But the Roadrunners score two more in the third to retake the lead.

Errors then began to take over for Cerro Coso, as chances at double plays fell through the cracks and led to two more runs through seven innings of play.

The Coyotes, however, didn’t quit and battled back to make the score 5-4 in the seventh.

With Bello on third and Reiger at the plate, Adams opted for the squeeze. But Reigers bunt was popped up and into the glove of the first baseman who doubled up Bello at third.

With the split in the series, Adams said the Roadrunners are in trouble and are carrying themselves in a manner that leads him to believe that winning the series 2-1 is a very good possibility.

“They are playing like a team in panic right now,” Adams said. “A win tomorrow would make 6-9 and could sweep victor (this weekend), but we are taking it one game at time. Rio Hondo is a good team. ... They are having good year. ... knows what can happen. We could win which is what we are very capable of doing.”

Cerro Coso’s game will be aired on 1360 AM KWDJ.

The Coyotes will take on Victor Valley on Thursday on the road before coming home on Saturday to complete the series. Saturday’s game will be pushed back to 3 p.m. from the original noon start.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

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