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Box Score (Game One)
Box Score (Game Two)
In their final home games of the season, Cougar
baseball split with Cal State San Bernardino, winning game one 5-3
before losing game two 13-7.
Overall, CSUSM looked good in its three-game series against the
Coyotes, taking two of the games.
In game one, Cougar starter Steve Triolo ran into trouble early. The
Coyotes lineup jumped on him in the first, scoring 3 runs capped off
by a Jason Klug homer. Triolo did rally to retire the inning’s final
three hitters.
CSUSM got one back in the bottom of the first, as Louie Russo worked
a one-out walk off Coyotes starter Kevin Wilson, and Tristan Gale
drove him in with a base hit.
In the third, the Cougars would rally to take their first lead.
Jason Hinton, Russo, and Austin Way led off with singles, and after
an out, Terry Moritz knocked a base hit as well. Jackson Chapelone
drew a very hard-fought bases loaded walk to push home a run, Dane
Ponciano drove an RBI single, and Johnny Omahen laid down a bunt
that the pitcher failed to field. When the inning was over, CSUSM
held a 5-3 lead.
Triolo ran into trouble with two outs in the fourth, allowing two
singles and a walk. He gave way to reliever Auggie Richardson, who
recorded a strikeout to escape the bases loaded jam unharmed. It was
the second time in as many days that Richardson came in with runners
in scoring position and didn’t allow a run.
Chris Skaalen took over on the mound for CSUSM to start the fifth,
and despite allowing a couple hits pitched a scoreless frame. He
went on to throw a very nice 1-2-3 sixth and a scoreless seventh as
well. Skaalen finished out his outstanding outing by getting two
outs in the eighth, where Eric Julienne took over and struck out the
final hitter of the inning.
Julienne got the first two outs of the ninth, but a walk and a
potentially critical error on what could’ve been the game-ending out
drove him from the game. But David Julio put out the fire, striking
out the game’s final hitter to close out the 5-3 win. What started
as a slugfest turned into a pitchers’ duel, as no runs were scored
from the fourth inning on. In fact, after Triolo allowed three runs
before getting an out in the first, the CSUSM threw nine full
scoreless innings. Skaalen improved to 3-0 with the well-deserved
win.
Game two pitted Cougar starter Lance McCormick against Coyote Ward
Minnis. McCormick got through an easy first, getting help from
catcher Mike Pena on a very nice strike ‘em out throw ‘em out
double-play.
Once again, CSUSM struck early. A first inning error allowed Ricardo
Moran to reach, bringing Tristan Gale to the plate with one out.
Gale, who tends to swing at the first pitch, patiently took a strike
before unloading on Minnis’ next offering, crushing it over the
fence in left to put his team up 2-0.
A Drew Valenzuela homer tied the game up in the second, but the
Cougars went right back on top in the bottom of the frame. Louie
Russo doubled with two outs to keep the inning alive, and Ricardo
Moran blasted a home run to right center, putting CSUSM on top 4-2.
Meanwhile, McCormick had settled into a nice groove on the mound,
but ran into trouble in the fifth. A pair of one-out base hits set
the stage for Billy Haynes to drive a three-run homer to dead
center, putting the Coyotes up 5-4. Auggie Richardson came in for
one out but allowed a solo shot to Jason Klug, making it 6-4.
Reliever Grant Harrell came in and got out of the inning, courtesy
of a wicked leaping stab by Louie Russo.
Moran cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning, drilling
his second home run of the game to nearly the same spot as the
first. The two home runs double his total on the year coming into
Saturday. Later in the inning, Moritz would tie it up with a big RBI
double down the leftfield line. Mike Pena nearly broke the tie with
a rocket shot to third, but it was snagged by the third basemen,
sending the 6-6 game to the sixth.
Maybe it was the “6-6-6” on the scoreboard, but the Cougars were
snake-bitten in the sixth. The Coyotes’ first hitter reached on a
tough error, advanced on a wild pitch that hit off the batter’s
foot, went to third on a fly ball to right, and scored on an infield
blooper that somehow dropped. Reliever David Julio stranded runners
at the corners with an inning-ending strikeout, keeping the game at
7-6.
But the Cougar bullpen broke an axle in the seventh, surrendering
six runs including a monstrous grand slam to pinch hitter Matt Long.
An Austin Way solo shot wasn’t nearly enough in the bottom of the
inning, and CSUSM fell 13-7.
Cougar baseball will play its final regular season game at San Diego
Christian on the 30th, then await to see if they made the Region II
playoffs.
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