Chargers Strand 14 in First Home Loss
Bray allowed just two hits Monday afternoon. |
February 25, 2008
Final Stats
Cypress, Calif. - Cypress had been able to erase two straight ninth inning deficits to win. The Chargers put themselves in the same situation Monday but could not perform another miracle losing 3-2 to College of the Desert. Monday’s loss marked the first Charger loss at home and first loss to a California team. Freshman right-hander Brent Bray came in to pitch the last four innings holding the Roadrunners to three runs allowing just two hits and no runs.
Despite outhitting Desert, Cypress could not cash in on pivotal opportunities stranding 14 runners on base. Desert started digging in early making the first inning the decisive one scoring three runs off three hits. The Charger defense buckled down but the offense took a while to get going.
Cypress was able to gain some ground in the bottom of the fourth. Freshman catcher Parker Berberet led with a walk and moved to second on a balk. Sophomore shortstop Tyler Marmion followed with a single through the left side moving Berberet to third. Freshman second baseman Erik Hempe cashed in with a double to center for the first Charger run as Berberet scored. Freshman right fielder Justin McGuire came off the bench to hit and produced a sacrifice fly as Marmion tagged up to score cutting the Desert lead to one.
Cypress had a great opportunity to tie it up in the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded and just one out down. The Chargers were blanked yet again with a strikeout and fly out ending their shot to tie it. It all came down to the ninth inning again. For the third game in a row, Cypress was down with their backs to the wall in the bottom of the ninth. The miracle looked possible with Berberet earning a hit to get on base, but Cypress left him there again with a ground out to end it.
Freshman Matt Wolfrom suffered the loss pitching the first five innings allowing just five hits while striking out three. Wolfrom falls to 2-2 on the season.
Cypress falls to 12-3 and must recover quickly as they face their first conference opponent of the year tomorrow. The Chargers will host rival Fullerton in a conference preview in the first round of the Orange Empire Conference mini-tournament. The mini-tournament consists of three rounds where wins and losses will not count towards the conference record but will give the teams a preview of the competition ahead. Fullerton is 13-1 coming off a commanding 15-6 win over Allan Hancock. The two meet up Tuesday at 2:00 pm at Cypress.
