Down, 4-0, and almost out in the eighth inning, a solo home run by right fielder, Sophomore Garrett Serino, tried to jumpstarted the Moorpark offense. The comeback looked promising, but timely relief pitching by Cuesta snuffed out any potential rally on Tuesday afternoon at Raiders Stadium.
Starter Wyatt Birg, whose performance deserved a better fate, completed six innings and gave up four runs, two in the second and two in the sixth. His record is now 4-2.
“I didn’t have my pitches today, and I walked a lot of guys,” Birg said. “I couldn’t find the zone, and kept throwing a lot of balls. That doesn’t help.”
With the game almost beyond reach in the eighth, leadoff hitter Serino’s blast just cleared the fence in left center. The Raiders were back in the game, when shortstop Terrell Tate followed with a double and Sam Gerald was hit by a pitch.
“He offered me a pitch up and I got my hands extended,” Serino said about his home run. “It felt good. Terrell got a double and a hit batter for Sammy. [The relief pitcher] seemed to hit his spots after that.”
Things were finally looking up for Moorpark, with runners on first and second with no outs. However, Cuesta’s reliever, James Kannenberg, retired the next three batters in a row to end the threat. Starter, Alex Fagalde, who pitched seven solid shutout innings, got the win for the Cougars, .
In the second inning, with runners at second and third and one out, Steven Pico’s groundout drove in the Cougars first run. Almost immediately, Dustin Miller’s double brought home the second run.
“Our offense is struggling right now,” Serino said. “We’re not getting the clutch hits at the right time, and we need to be tougher with runners on base. Our pitchers rebounded well today. We’ve just got to back them up.”
In the sixth inning, a base hit by Josh Sidley with one out and a runner at third drove in Cuesta’s third run. Miller struck again with a base hit to drive in the visitor’s fourth and final run.
“We can [either] have good pitching, but can’t score runs, or we can score a lot of runs and pitch absolutely horrible,” said Emery Johnson, who pitched two shutout innings in middle relief. “Next time, we need to work together effectively as a team.”
The Raiders have dropped three games in a row, and are looking to bounce back against Oxnard College at Raiders Stadium, Thursday, March 5, at 2 p.m.
