COD Baseball smashes 3 homers in rout of the Vikings, 11-1

COD (16-11; 5-8) demolished their four-game losing streak with a dominant performance on the mound and in the batters box, as Michael-Alan Stanford was pitching a no hitter through six and Abraham Hernandez had a pair of home runs, giving the Roadrunners a much needed win over the Barstow Vikings (7-25; 5-11), 11-1.

Desert scored a run in the first and a run in the second to take an early, 2-0 lead. The Roadrunners would blow the game open in the fifth, as sophomore catcher Abraham Hernandez (La Quinta H.S.) hit a 3-run shot to cap off a five-run inning for the home side and giving Desert a 7-0 advantage. In the sixth, Desert came back for more as sophomore left fielder Graham Gonzales (Valparaiso (IN) H.S.) clobbered his first home run of the season, a blast to dead center field and later in the inning Hernandez hit his third home run of the season, second of the game, a two-run shot to give the home side an 11-0 lead.

In the top half of the sixth, Barstow had a runner at third who was called out due to a "hidden ball trick," ending the Vikings threat for that inning. Sophomore right fielder Joeseph Jimenez (Palm Desert H.S.) went 2 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI out of the leadoff spot and sophomore center fielder Antonio Crews (Grayslake (IL) Central) went 2 for 5 with a run scored out of the clean-up spot. Sophomore short stop Jason Leon (La Quinta H.S.) went 2 for 3 with 3 runs scored and an RBI out of the seven hole in the lineup.

Sophomore left handed starting pitcher Michael-Alan Stanford (Westlake H.S.) tossed a gem, throwing a no hitter through six, while striking out six for his fifth win of the season. Sophomore right handed relief pitcher Kevin Sanchez (Indio Shadow Hills), sophomore right handed relief pitcher Kevin Sanchez (Indio Shadow Hills), sophomore right handed relief pitcher Matthew Sapakoff (Littleton (CO) H.S.) and
freshman right handed relief pitcher Ethan Penrod (Danville Monte Vista) combined to pitch an inning each to hold the win.

The next contest for Desert is on Tuesday, April 7th at 2:30p at the Barstow Vikings. The next home game for the Roadrunners is Tuesday, April 11th at 2:30p against the Victor Valley Rams of Victorville.

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For additional information, please contact the COD Sports Information Office at 760.423.6641.

Information, Photos & Story provided by COD Sports Information.