Story by Brendan Hamilton
TAFT, CA – After an extremely early morning for the Taft College Cougars Baseball Team, the first game of the doubleheader kicked off in a usual fashion with Jesus Gonzalez hitting a line drive single. Yadriel Reyes then drove him in with a double to open the scoring, giving the Cougars an early 1-0 lead. Gavilan College responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first jumping out 2-1. The game remained at a stalemate until the fifth inning when Jackson Berry hit a 2 RBI double and Taft added 3 more runs in the inning, switching the lead to 6-2 in favor of the Cougars. Scoring remained at bay as starter Jacob Canuel went five straight scoreless innings after the first and Shimboku Matsudo closed the door for the next two until the ninth. Gavilan jolted to life in the bottom of the ninth inning scoring 4 runs, tying the game 6-6 leading into extra innings. In the tenth inning, Taft capitalized on their chances and scored 3 runs giving them a 9-6 lead. Eric Godinez held the lead at 9-6 allowing the Cougars to win game one of the three game series.
Game two was an even better one for Taft despite getting down to an early 2-0 lead after four innings of play. A three run fifth inning switched the tides of the game as Alex Camorlinga started the rally with a single, letting the Cougars spring out to a 3-2 lead. It was all Cougars from there, a 4 run eighth beginning with an Elijah Olaybal rocket to centerfield brought the lead to 7-2. Gavilan came back in the ninth with a run of their own, but it was not enough to fend off the Cougars, ending the game at 7-3. The pitching staff was excellent in the game with Keigo Wajima going 4 innings allowing 2 runs, Ian Gross went 3 innings of shutout baseball, and Alex Camorlinga went 2 innings giving up one run.
The third and final game of the series was a rainy mess causing delays, and much confusion for both teams. However, the game went on and scoring was early and often. Both teams surrendered more than six runs in the first five innings of play with errors plaguing both sides. Gavilan, up 8-6, maintained their lead and added 3 more runs in the bottom of the eighth making the score 11-6. Although the Cougars provided some resistance in the ninth by scoring a run, Gavilan College held on and the game ended 11-7.
A wild and wet weekend series brings the Cougars' record to 4-5 heading into their first Central Valley Conference game on Tuesday, February 20 at home, against Porterville College.