TAFT, CA – On Thursday, February 8 against the Cerro Coso College Coyotes, The Taft College Cougars Baseball Team were unsure of their expectations heading into the 2-game series. Cerro Coso College had a 4-2 record going into the weekend and Taft was a measly 0-3. However, the Cougars got off to a scorching start when Jesus Gonzalez led off the game by hitting a screaming line drive in the gap for a double, and the Cougars rolled from there. Catcher Manny Esparza hit Gonzalez in with a sac fly to open the scoring. Later in the first inning, Ethan Kelly hit Jackson Berry in for his first collegiate hit and RBI. The Cougars plated 3 in the bottom of the first, 7 in the third, and 4 in the fourth. In the eighth Inning, Dawson George collected his very first collegiate hit capping off a successful 15-8 win against the Coyotes.
On Friday, the script was flipped, and the Coyotes got out to a hot start taking an early 1-0 lead. The Cougars answered by scoring one of their own in the top of the second when Owen Hayes reached home on a wild pitch. Cerro Coso marched to the top with a grand slam in the bottom of the third to take a 5-1 lead. Taft responded with a run in the top of the fourth to narrow the lead to 5-2, but it was not enough to fend off the Coyotes. In the bottom of the fourth, Cerro Coso added another run to make it 6-2, and despite resilience from the Cougars who made it 6-4 in the top of the fifth, plating 4 in the Bottom half of the inning, Cerro Coso took a commanding 10-4 lead. The scrappy Cougars were able to make it close in the top of the eighth by getting the tying run on base, but they failed to capitalize. Cerro Coso ran away with the game in the bottom of the eighth scoring 5 and making it a 15-7 ball game, which ultimately was the final score.
The weekend finished off with a bit of fun as the Alumni rolled into town and battled the Cougars, making it a close game, but the Cougars came out on top 12-8.
Baseball plays again at home against cross town rival Bakersfield College tomorrow, Tuesday, February 13 at 1:00 pm at the Cougar Field.
(Photo courtesy of Dough Keeler. Pictured Justin Austin)