Baseball Wins Third Straight in Beating Cerro Coso, 9-5

PALM DESERT, Calif. -- College of the Desert baseball (9-15, 7-7) continued to rough up opposing pitchers, as they defeated Cerro Coso (12-13, 4-10) 9-5 in yesterday afternoon's Foothill Conference matchup in Palm Desert.

The Roadrunners got on the board early in the game's second inning, after a leadoff walk and a throwing error allowed sophomore Cole Danielson (Cathedraly City, CA/Cathedral City HS) to come in to score.  Sophomore Dallas Asuncion (Honolulu, HI/Kalani HS) followed with an RBI single to left field, plating freshman Louie Castellanos (Cathedraly City, CA/Cathedral City HS) who had earlier reached on an infield single.

After the visitors scored one run in the top of the fourth, head coach John Welker's squad answered back with five runs in the home half of the inning.  Castellanos would score the first run on an RBI groundout by sophomore Tanner Olthoff (Oceanside, CA/El Camino HS).  A walk and a hit batter loaded the bases for sophomore Luc Powers-Hubbard (Bonney Lake, WA/Sumner HS), whose two-RBI single through the left side scored freshman Travis Tanaka (Honolulu, HI/St. Louis HS) and sophomore Sean Romo (Honolulu, HI/Kalani HS).  Powers-Hubbard would then sneak in to score the fifth run of the inning, as he bolted home on a steal attempt by Cole Danielson.  

COD would tack on two more runs in the sixth inning via RBIs from Cole Danielson and freshman Trenton Covel (Palm Desert, CA/Xavier HS), on their way to a 9-5 final.  

Sean Romo led the Roadrunner offense with three hits and a run scored, while Luc Powers-Hubbard and Cole Danielson each had one hit and two RBIs.  Tanner Olthoff, Trenton Covel and Dallas Asuncion drove in one run apiece, while sophomore DJ Hernandez (La Quinta, CA/La Quinta HS) and Louie Castellanos recorded two hits.  

Sophomore left-hander Zackery Novis (Palm Desert, CA/Palm Desert HS) allowed three runs on eight hits over 6.2 innings of work, walking just one.  Novis (2-2) picked up the win, while also striking out four hitters.

 College of the Desert baseball will look to sweep this week's three-game series with Cerro Coso when they travel to Ridgecrest on Saturday afternoon for a 12 p.m. game.