By Kaila Morales |Staff Writer|
The Coyote baseball team fell completely short from Feb. 26 to 28 as they took on UC San Diego’s Tritons in a four game series.
The first night’s game was hosted in La Jolla where right-handed pitcher (RHP) Tyler Wells threw 104 pitches over five innings.
Wells racked up eight strikeouts and only allowed one run.
Catcher and first baseman Brian Lockey started the game off with a two-run single, giving the Coyotes a 2-0 lead in the first.
Infielder Dylan Lohman scored off of a one-out double by catcher Andrew Lopez, giving the Coyotes a 3-0 advantage.
In the sixth, in-fielder Jake Caron scored an unearned run leading the Tritons 4-1.
Wells stepped off the mound with the lead and was replaced by RHP Jonathan Tellier.
However, the Tritons returned, scoring three unanswered runs in the seventh and five more in the eighth to give them the 9-4 victory on Friday night.
“It’s always frustrating whenever you’re in the lead and it’s taken away from you,” said Wells.
Wells said the Coyote bullpen has been having trouble lately, but he trusts them.
“The ability for them to go out and throw strikes is key right now [and] I think that is what has been killing us,” said Wells.
The Coyotes played their first home game of the season at Fiscalini Field on Feb. 27.
However, they would be defeated twice in a double header, 20-4 and 5-3, against the Tritons.
In game one, in-fielder Grant Buchanan knocked out two singles, but the Tritons grabbed an early lead when they scored three runs off a three-run home run in the first.
“I thought I did pretty good, but the result wasn’t what we wanted,” said Buchanan.
“We got to keep working everyday and leave everything in the past and take one day at a time,” added Buchanan.
Game two had a slower start, as it was not until the bottom of the the fifth that the Coyotes got their first run on the board.
Trailing 4-0 infielder and pitcher William Ouellette scored off of outfielder Damion Edmond’s fielder’s choice, making the score 4-1.
In the bottom of the sixth, Buchanan scored a run after leading off with a single.
Buchanan fired back again in the bottom of the seventh with a two-out double to left center scoring Lopez who led off with a walk.
RHP Brian Conley took the loss after throwing five innings with four strikeouts and five walks.
The Coyotes found themselves back in La Jolla for their last game of the four game series on Feb. 28.
The Coyotes trailed 7-0 all the way to the top of the fifth where they earned all of their five runs in that single inning.
William Ouellette went 5-for-5 with five singles in the Coyotes 16-5 loss to the Tritons.
“I was seeing the ball really well; I was more aggressive when it came to the fastball early in the count,” Ouellette said.
The Coyotes will play the Chico State Wildcats March 12 and 13 in Chico, but will return home to play Stanislaus State March 19 and 20.
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