The San Bernardino Valley College baseball team scored six times in the opening two innings and kept the pressure on visiting Cerro Coso College to beat the Coyotes 12-7 Saturday afternoon to take two of three games in the three-game series.
SBVC got on the board in the first when, with one out, Adrian Diaz doubled to left and Gama Martinez followed with a line single up the middle to score Diaz to make it 1-0.
But the Wolverines did their biggest amount of damage in the second, scoring five times on one hit. Anthony Casares opened the inning drawing a walk and Cristian Leos was hit by a pitch. Raymond Ramirez bunted the runners over, setting up an RBI single from Jeremiah Acosta, scoring Casares. After Acosta stole second, Diaz walked to load the bases. A passed ball allowed Leos to score, with the other two runners moving up 90 feet. Martinez drove home Acosta with a sacrifice fly to right. Sky Donaldson drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Cainon Wrisley followed with grounder to short that skipped under the glove of Jorge Amaya to score Diaz. Then, James Henson hit a grounder to second, and Wrisley stopped in the middle of the baseline, drawing the attention of second baseman Deri Steiert-Couture, who tried to tag Wrisley. During the ensuing run down, Donaldson was able to score before Wrisley was finally put out in the run down to give SBVC the 6-0 lead.
After the Coyotes scored three times in the top half of the third, SBVC matched Cerro Coso in the bottom half of the inning. Casares opened the inning getting hit by a pitch - seven Wolverines were struck by pitches Saturday - and Leos singled. Both runners stole a base, with Ramirez driving home Casares with a single. Ramirez stole second, and Leos scored on a groundout by Acosta, with Ramirez going to third. He would score on a wild pitch by Shifu Hasegawa.
Meanwhile, the SBVC pitching staff and defense were holding strong. Six SBVC pitchers combined to strike out 10 Cerro Coso batters, allowing only four earned runs on seven hits in the game. Reliever Connor Crawford was awarded the win, going two shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out two.
SBVC got some insurance in the fifth when Diaz connected on a two-run blast over the wall in right field to give SBVC an 11-3 lead at the time.
The Wolverines stole six bases in the game, while Casares threw out both Cerro Coso runners trying to steal.
Diaz finished the game 2-for-3 with a double, home run, three runs scored, and the two RBI. Acosta and Martinez had two RBI as well.
Saturday's victory came on the heels of a 10-6 victory at Cerro Coso on Thursday, as the Wolverines rallied to tie the game in the ninth then scored four times in the 10th to beat the Coyotes.