Baseball falls to East Bay

By Suriel Chavez |Staff Writer|

The Coyote baseball team had an exciting weekend against the Cal State East Bay Pioneers, playing in a three game series with one win and two losses.

However, the Coyotes are still confident in doing better in their next game.

Coyotes started off strong with a 2-1 win on April 16.

Game one starter and right-hand pitcher Tyler Wells went eight and one-third innings while only giving up three hits. He walked the lead-off hitter on five pitches, but had a total of eight strikeouts.

The Pioneers struck first, scoring their first and only run in the fifth inning.

Center fielder Damion Edmonds hit the ball to center field, scoring Brian Lockey and Jordan Simon in the bottom of the fifth.

Relief pitcher William Ouellette earned his fifth save of the season, ending the game with just one double play-inducing pitch.

Shortstop Dylan Lohman made a quick toss to second baseman Simon, who then threw the ball to first baseman Lockey to end the game with a double play.

The Coyotes had seven hits in game one, two of those resulting in runs.

CSUSB got two hits each from left fielder Ryan Rich and Lockey with Lohman and Simon earning the rest of the Coyotes’ seven hits.

In the second game, CSUSB allowed its most runs of the season as the Pioneers totaled 25 hits and scored in every inning except the fourth and sixth.

The Pioneers started the game off by scoring four runs in the first inning.

Andrew Lopez homered to left field, allowing Grant Buchanan to score in the bottom of the first.

East Bay scored one in the second and three in the third.

Rich, in the third inning, reached on a walk and moved around the bases as the inning progressed, leading to a run.

East Bay would strike back again, scoring three more in the fifth.

Rich reached on an error by the short stop and later scored another run for the Coyotes in the fifth inning.

Lohman singled through the left side during the sixth inning eventually scoring.

East Bay would dominate from there on, scoring nine more runs over the last three innings.

The Coyotes scored 5 runs off of 10 hits.

Starting pitcher Don Sullivan got the loss, bringing his record to 5-4.

The Coyotes lost the second game of the doubleheader, the final score being 21-5 East Bay, causing CSUSB to drop to 17-19, 12-12 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA).

In game three, which concluded the series against the Pioneers, the Coyotes scored 2 runs off of 9 hits.

East Bay scored one run in the second and four in the third to get themselves on the board.

With runners on second and third, Ouellete hit a two RBI double, allowing Buchanan and Jake Caron to score in the sixth.

The Pioneers scored two in the seventh and one in the eighth to cap the scoring.

“No team should be taken lightly,” said Ouellette in response to their loss in game three.

The score for the final game was 8-2 East Bay.

Brian Conley was tagged with the game three loss after going four innings.

“The goal is to win the series,” said Pitcher Cory Peterson, with high hopes of doing better in their next game.