 |
|
Baseball Makes 9-Run
Comeback, Earns Wild Tie with Cal Lutheran |
|
Today’s match-up with Cal
Lutheran marked a couple firsts for Cal State San Marcos baseball. In the program’s two-year
history, Friday’s game was the first to end in a tie, as the
Cougars and Kingsmen played to an 11-11 draw in the nearly four-hour
contest. It also marked the largest
comeback ever for Cal State San Marcos.
After three innings, CSUSM found itself on the wrong end of a
10-1 blowout – but Coach Dennis Pugh’s squad erased that with a
six-run sixth and four-run seventh to take an improbable 11-10 lead.
But keeping with the wild theme of the game, Cal Lutheran got
one back in the eighth, and the game ended after nine innings. Cougar starter Steve Triolo had
a rare rough outing, allowing four runs in just an inning and a
third. His control betrayed him, as Triolo walked four in the short
outing. The Cougar bullpen didn’t have
much more luck. After
Louie Russo singled in Jackson Chapelone to make it 4-1, Cal
Lutheran tacked on five more runs in the third inning.
The seemingly-insurmountable 9-1 lead was extended to 10-1 in
the fifth, as CSUSM went through pitcher after pitcher in an effort
to stop the bleeding. But in the sixth inning, the
game turned. First, the
Cougar bats came alive in the top of the inning.
Tristan Gale started the rally with a one-out single, and an
Austin Way walk and Morgan Wynne single loaded the bases.
Chapelone drove in the first run with a base hit to second,
and a wild pitch allowed Way to score.
After a walk to Mike Pena, pinc hitter Jared Suwyn came
through with an RBI single, and Russo grounded out to get the next
run in. That brought
pinch hitter Ricardo Moran to the plate with two outs, and he
delivered a huge double to left center, plating the inning’s final
two runs. With the lead at a much more
manageable 10-7, the Cougars turned to reliever Auggie Richardson to
keep it that way. He
did. The lefty pitched
a 1-2-3 sixth inning, keeping momentum squarely in the San Marcos
dugout. It would continue in the
seventh. Gale led off with a double to left, and Way singled to put
runners on the corners. Wynne
knocked an RBI base hit, and after a strikeout, Dane Ponciano and
Russo were both hit by pitches to force in a run.
Suwyn then tallied the game-tying RBI with a single, and an
error gave the Cougars an impossible 11-10 lead. Ace reliever David Julio was
brought in to close out the game, but a crazy eighth inning derailed
that effort. Cal Lutheran put runners at the corners with one out, and
Julio was called for a balk that allowed the tying run to score.
The winning run almost scored that same inning, but was cut
down at the plate. And
the third out came on a pick-off. Neither team threatened in the ninth, leading to the rare tie baseball game – an ending that is unlikely to fully satisfy either team. Still, the Cougars’ comeback was outstanding, and they’ll look to build on that going into Tuesday’s game at Vanguard.
|