Coyote Athletics : Baseball : Articles

Dawgs find swing, crush Barstow 17-7 in Foothill Conference opener

By Kyle Kensing, Sports Editor, The Daily Independent

“It was probably 400 feet long... But it seemed like it was 400 feet high.”

Cerro Coso found difficulty pushing runs across the plate in its non-conference schedule. Fortunately for the Coyotes, their no longer in non-conference play.

The Dawgs got all the runs they needed and more yesterday in a 17-7 rout of Barstow in the first Foothill Conference game of 2006.

Paul Saville and Jon Proesl each flirted with hitting for the cycle. Proesl hit 3-5 including a single, double, and triple, and pushed across four runs.

Saville went 5-5, including three RBIs and a huge home run over the right field wall in the seventh inning.

“It was probably 400 feet long,” said Coso head coach Dick Adams. “But it seemed like it was 400 feet high.”

Adams shot Saville’s shot was one of the tallest home run balls he’d seen.

“That ball might have hit the ceiling of the Sky Dome [in Toronto] and still gone out.”

Coso’s big bats of Saville and Proesl got the hit parade going earlier with back-to-back triples in the third inning.

Tyler Curran pushed across Saville after his three-base knock with a sacrifice fly, and the Coyotes led 4-0.

The flood gates truly opened in the following inning, however, with the Dawgs scratching across six.

Andrew Mosjic got on with a single, and proceeded to steal second. Mark Sayas and Liam Tenant followed on an error and hit-by-pitch.

With the bases loaded and no outs, Proesl again brought the heavy lumber with his second triple in as many innings to clear the bases.

It was a welcome sight for Adams after his team struggled to capitalized on such opportunities last week at Golden West.

Coso’s hat bats got support from some great pitching and team defense.

Aaron Keplinger got the start, and the win, throwing seven innings. He allowed just one Barstow run on five hits.

The 6-foot-3 right hander walked none and struck out five.

Coso performed well in the field to aid Keplinger’s cause with just one error on the day.

The Coyotes’ only chink in the armor was its pitching in the ninth inning. Barstow teed off for six runs in a last ditch comeback effort, but already trailing 17-1, the attempt was futile.

The Dawgs again face Barstow tomorrow at home in a double-header.

Adams said yesterday’s blowout win will be long forgot by then.

“That’s just one [conference game] down,” he said. “And 23 to go.”

Adam Garner takes the ball for Game 1 Saturday, with Ryan Short getting the call in the second.

Action gets underway at noon.

Friday, March 3, 2006

For more on this story please subscribe to The Daily Independent at: dieditor@ridgecrestca.com