TAFT, CA – The Taft College Baseball Cougars faced off against Merced College last Tuesday, April 22.
Roman Roberts stepped up to the plate and pumped a shot out to left field over the fence to quickly get the lead in the 1st inning. Merced answered quickly, getting 3 runs in the next half to jump the score 3-1. Merced extended the lead in the 3rd scoring 2 more, pushing the score to 5-1. Taft responded in the 4th with an RBI double by Eian Peralta and an RBI single from Yadriel Reyes, cutting it to 5–3. But Merced answered again in the bottom half hitting a solo bomb to chip in a run making it 6–3.
Roberts hit his second homer of the game in the 5th to pull Taft closer 6–4, Merced again answered quickly the next half with another homer to up Taft 7-4. Taft kept fighting, in the 6th while Gaku Yamamoto tripled in a run, and Odnal Rivera homered in the 7th, tightening the score to 7–6. The offense was not enough to break down Merced and Taft was defeated 8-6.
The next day was a home game against College of The Sequoias in Taft. Sequoias jumped out early, putting up three runs in the 1st inning. Gaku Yamamoto in the bottom half of the inning launches a ball to deep left center for a solo shot, cutting the lead to 3–1 and giving them a spark.
The game stayed relatively quiet until the 6th inning, when COS put up a 4 spot to make it 7–1. Taft tried to rally in the bottom of the 6th with an RBI single from Orlando Guerra, scoring Yamamoto.
Sho Saegusa, Jesse Lubiniecki, and Griffin Garcia were all key parts of the bullpen allowing only 1 run through a combined 3.2 innings. The Cougars offense came to a halt and in the end lost 8-2.
The Cougars face up against Reedley College for their last game of the season this Saturday, April 26 at 2:00 pm.