The Cougars Offense Hammer Down Coalinga College; Porterville College was Different
TAFT, CA – On Monday, April 14, the Taft College Baseball Cougars played Coalinga College for their 4th time this season going into the game with a 3-0 record against them.
Ryden Walker started on the mound for the Cougars and got to work early putting up 2 zeros. It wasn't until the 3rd inning with a sacrifice fly hit into left field that scored 1 run for Coalinga giving them the 1-0 lead. Taft responded in the 5th when Karsen Spradling's bunt led to Yadriel Reyes in to score from third, tying the game at 1-1.
The 6th inning proved pivotal for Taft. Gaku Yamamoto launched a solo home run to take the lead, and a huge momentum shift which was followed by a two-run homer from Eian Peralta and an RBI single by Ty Moore, putting Taft up 5-1.
Coalinga fought back late putting up 1 run in the 7th and 2 more in the 8th to get that right back in the face at 5-4. But Taft was relentless with a big bottom of the 8th inning for the offense, putting up 4 runs to give the Cougars a score of 9-4.
Julian Orozco would slam the door shut in the 9th going 3 up 3 down with 2 K's to win the game.
The following day, TC matched up against Porterville College. The Cougars offense was cold and remained behind in the race. Porterville managed to score one in the 2nd and two in the 3rd to gain a 3-0 lead.
Porterville kept going, putting up more runs late in the game which led to a 10-0 defeat. Caleb Garvin and Fabian Cruz were dominant on the mound, coming in late in relief to put up two clean innings for the Cougars.
The Cougars head off to Fresno on Thursday, April 17 for a do or die game against the Rams.