By Ryan Navaroli |Staff Writer|
Coyote’s men’s baseball team suffered a tough loss against the Cal Baptist University (CBU) Lancers, losing 3-1 in their home opener.
Freshman pitcher Jake Meloche got the start for the Coyotes home opener.
Meloche pitched solid giving the Coyotes a chance to win in his first start of the 2014 season.
Meloche yielded seven hits, two walks, and two earned runs in his four innings of play.
“Getting the home opener was a great honor to get, especially as a freshman. My mind set was just to get off to a good start, make good pitches, and to get some momentum on our side,” said Meloche.
“CBU is a well coached team that does not make a lot of mistakes. Their hitters were disciplined at the plate so I knew that they were not going to swing at bad pitches,” said Meloche.
Strong pitching by the Lancers would out match the Coyotes.
Lancers’ starter David Herd threw a gem, only allowing one run in his 7.2 innings of play.
Coyote’s senior outfielder Remington Miller’s runs batted in (RBI), accounted for the Coyotes’ only run. Miller’s single to center would put the Coyotes up 1-0.
“My mind set was I was just got to stay relaxed and make sure just to make contact. I noticed that Herd was getting in patterns of what he was throwing, and I was looking for an off speed pitch to get a good swing on,” said Miller.
The Lancers answered back by scoring single runs in both the top of the third and fourth inning.
The Coyotes bullpen did their part and kept the game close in the later innings.
Senior pitcher Ken Kissell was effective in relief for the Coyotes by giving up on run and two hits in his four innings out of the bullpen.
“My mind set coming into the fifth inning was to try two outs as quickly as I could. I knew coming into the game that I would have to make them hit my pitches and not give in to throwing them pitches they were looking for,” said Kissell.
Senior pitcher Brian Jipp pitched a perfect ninth with one strikeout.
Junior infielders William Ouellete and Kevin Meriwether each had a pair of hits for the Coyotes.
The Lancers were led by Jake Arledge’s two RBI’s. Although the Coyotes are off to a rough start, there is still a lot of optimism for this year’s ball club.
“We play really good defense. We will always be in games, once our hitting gets going we can be a very good team and could go deep into the playoffs,” said Kissell.
The Coyotes look to improve in the early season as conference games are underway.
The Coyotes will be on the road against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Thursday Feb. 20 and Friday Feb. 21 at 2 p.m.
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