Baseball wins two on the road

By Jackie Monarrez |Staff Writer|

The Coyote baseball team took to the road, playing against the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos Feb. 12, then playing a double header Feb. 13 against the UC San Diego Tritons.

They ended their weekend against Texas-Permian Basin Feb. 14.

Coyotes split the weekend series, winning two games and losing two.

The non-conference game against the Broncos was an excellent match up having both teams’ best pitchers starting the game.

Junior Tyler Wells pitched five innings for the Coyotes striking out 10 Bronco players, but the Coyotes took an 8-2 loss.

When asked what Wells would have done differently in this game to possibly take the victory over the Broncos, Wells said, “I wouldn’t have done much different, other than trying to force contact on the ball earlier in the game.” He added that he “lacked execution” with some of his pitches.

Wells went on to say the game added more stress than usual to him “but knowing and trusting the team behind me put me at ease.”

In the game against the Broncos, the Coyotes got four hits off Cal Poly’s pitcher Ryan Olson.

Coyotes redeemed themselves when they won their first game against UC San Diego Tritons, scoring eight runs while the Tritons only scored two. The Coyotes fell short in game two and lost to the Tritons 9-1.

In game one, Coyote Don Sullivan pitched the first six innings, allowing only two runs while striking out three.

Sophomore Brian Conley entered the game to relieve Sullivan. Conley struck out two Tritons and went three innings with no runs.

When asked what helped them win this game against the Tritons, “playing inning by inning and not getting caught up in the big picture,” stated Conley.

Conley went on to say the team as a whole can improve on “making sure we come out ready to play in the first inning and continue to keep trusting the process and working hard.”

Senior Grant Buchanan contributed three runs for the Coyotes. One in the third, fifth and seventh innings.

In game two, Coyote Austin Casillas threw for four innings. Casillas earned two strikeouts.

The one run Coyotes earned was on an RBI by Senior Brian Lockey in the first inning.

The Coyotes ended the weekend by snagging a win in another non-conference game against UTPB 8-6.

Buchanan went three-for-five; he added a run for the Coyotes when he scored in the first inning.

Buchanan stated that “getting past the first few games of the year” and being “more settled in” and knowing “what to expect during the game” helped them take this win over UTPB.

“We were more relaxed and settled in after playing [Cal Poly Pomona and UC San Diego] because of how good they were,” Buchanan stated when asked about the overall game against UTPB.

Along with Buchanan, Damion Edmonds and Lockey got on base by each hitting a single.

The Coyotes are now 4-7 overall.