Ridgecrest, CA – The West Hills College baseball squad hit the road on Friday to square off against conferment opponent Cerro Coso. West Hills is coming off a walk off victory over the Coyotes. Head coach Stefan McGovern and the Falcons enter the day with an overall record of 12-9. The West Hills offense was able to get on the Coyote pitching staff early in the ball game and establish momentum.
Trent Bollman got the first hit of the day with a single to right field in the top of the first inning. An
Alante Uribe double to deep right field later scored Bollman all the way from first base.
Brandon Barker followed the double up with a two out single to left-center field.
Freshman
Spencer Hammond took the ball in game two of the series. The Falcon's two first inning runs gave Hammond early confidence, as he was able to pitch with a lead all game. In six innings of work the southpaw allowed six hits and two earned runs while striking out four Cerro Coso batters. Hammond is now 3-1 on the mound for West Hills.
Isaiah Daniel started the second inning off with line drive to left field. Back-to-back singles from
Jurren Santillana and
Jake Lorenzini then loaded the bases for
Trent Bollman. A single through the right side from Bollman scored Daniel from third base and kept the bases loaded with zero outs in the inning.
Brandon Hernandez kept the inning going with the Falcons fifth straight hit to score Santillana and Lorenzini. A
Brandon Barker single followed up by a Coyote balk brought in two more WHCC runs to cap off a five run second inning.
Cerro Coso was able to cross its first run of the game in the bottom half of the second inning. A leadoff error from the Falcons was able to come around and score on a passed ball. After two innings of play West Hills led by the score of 7-1.
The WHCC bats went quiet in the middle innings and kept the game open for Cerro Coso. In the bottom of the fifth inning the Coyotes were able to close the gap with three hits in the inning. A hit by pitch to start the inning was followed up by a triple to right field to get the Coyote fans back into the ballgame. The Falcons got a huge break when a passed ball ricocheted directly back to catcher Matt Siedem and caught the Coyote runner trying to plate another run. A walk followed by a single to right field put runners at the corners for Cerro Coso. A two out single then drove in the second run of the inning. After five innings complete the Coyotes trailed by the score of 7-3.
Brandon Hernandez got things going with a one out walk in the sixth inning. a double from Alante Uribe put runners in scoring position for Jeff Torres. Torres was able to drive in Hernandez with a sacrifice fly to left field. Uribe was able to advance to third base on the throw. Barker then brought in the final run of the inning with a single to left field.
Matt Siedem was first out of the bullpen for WHCC. Siedem allowed four hits and struck out three Coyote batters in his two innings of work.
A seven run seventh inning is what sealed the deal for West Hills on the day. The first three batters of the inning were able to get on base to start the inning. A Coyote fielding mistake scored Daniel which was the first Falcon run of the inning. Bollman then came up to the plate and singled back up the middle to plate Santillana. With two outs and bases loaded
Danny Perez earned a base on balls to score another run for West Hills.
Torin Miller followed up with a two RBI single to right-center field. It was
Dazohn Gilchrist scoring the last two runs of the inning with bases loaded double to left field. In the inning the Falcons plated seven runs on five hits and one Coyote error.
Cerro Coso responded with a four run inning of its own. A three run home run over the left field fence gave some life back to the Coyotes. After the homer, a double, and a hit by pitch kept the inning going. With a runner on third base a balk called on WHCC plated the fourth run of the inning for Cerro Coso.
West Hills was able to tack on one additional insurance run when
Torin Miller roped a solo home run over the right field fence. In the bottom of the ninth inning Cerro Coso was able to drive in two more runs to make the score final at:
Series Recap:
Game 1: West Hills 8 – Cerro Coso 7
Game 2: West Hills 17 – Cerro Coso 9
Game 3: West Hills 7 - Cerro Coso 27
Next up: West Hills will play host to Fresno City on Tuesday, March 21st at Keith Scrivner Field. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m.
For the latest on Falcons baseball, including news and score updates, follow @whcbaseball on Twitter.