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Short game sputters; Coso still wins 4-3

By Kyle Kensing, Sports Editor, The Daily Independent

Daily Independent Photo By Mike Delaney
Cerro Coso shortstop Mark Sayas heads for third in the Coyotes’ 4-3 conference win over Barstow Saturday. Daily Independent Photo By Mike Delaney

Cerro Coso’s Foothill Conference home debut may not have been as pretty as the team’s 17-7 win Thursday, but the Coyotes came out victorious, 4-3.

Adam Garner pitched all seven innings in the first game of the double-header, and picked up the win.

“Garner came out not real strong,” said head coach Dick Adams. “But he pitched well throughout.”

The 6-foot-3 right hander hit a rough patch in the second inning, when he gave up a two-run homer to Barstow’s Jay Schnaus.

Garner was solid the rest of the way, though, which was a big boost on a day that saw the Coso (6-12, 2-0 Foothill Conference) offense struggle.

The Coyotes scratched across four runs on just four hits, which Adams said the result of an ineffective short game.

“We were very lucky,” Adams said. “We needed the short game to work...and it didn’t.”

Coso’s “luck” was aided by some poor Barstow play in the field.

The visiting Vikings committed six errors, kicked off with two in the first inning that helped across the Coyotes’ first two runs.

Mark Sayas kicked things off with a single, and advanced to third on a wild throw.

He came across on a Jon Proesl grounder, with Proesl reaching first on another error.

Paul Saville hit a grounder that scored Proesl for the RBI.

Sayas again reached the plate thanks in large part to a Barstow error, scoring from second.

The Vikings kept it close throughout, knotting things up at three apiece.

The Coyotes kept Barstow at bay with some sound defense. A 6-3-5 double play allowed them to escape the fifth inning with the tie in tact, setting up the game winning run the next half-inning.

Saville nailed a stand-up double down the left field line. After advancing to third, Dustin Romero brought him home on a squeeze play that didn’t pan out as called, but was nevertheless effective.

“It looked like a safety squeeze, but it was supposed to be an all-out suicide squeeze,” Adams said.

The Dawgs closed out the three-game Barstow series Saturday in the second half of the double-header, which concluded after time of press.

Saturday, March 4, 2006