Coalinga Pulls Away From Taft in 6-2 Decision at Cougar Field

Coalinga College broke the game open early and answered Taft's only rally in a 6-2 victory over the Cougars on Friday afternoon at Cougar Field. The decisive stretch came across the third and fourth innings, when Coalinga turned a one-run game into a three-run margin, then quickly restored control after Taft College cut into the deficit in the bottom of the fourth.

Coalinga set the tone in the top of the first inning when Haruki Nakano delivered an RBI single to score Teruki Kato for a 1-0 lead. The visitors added on in the third, using Rey Garcia's two-run single to extend the advantage to 3-0. Taft responded in the bottom of the fourth with its best offensive inning of the day. J'Den Briones singled home one run, and William Glover followed with an RBI single to trim the deficit to 3-2.

Any momentum from that push was short-lived. In the top of the fourth, Coalinga answered immediately as Nakano lifted a sacrifice fly and Noah Castro added an RBI single, pushing the lead back to 5-2. Nakano added another key swing in the sixth, doubling home Titan Pasco to make it 6-2. Nakano finished 3 for 3 with a double, three RBIs, a walk, a stolen base and a sacrifice fly, providing the most consistent offensive production of the game.

Taft collected seven hits and placed pressure on the bases at times, but Coalinga's pitching staff limited further damage. Starter Rudy Amaya earned the win after working 6.0 innings and allowing five hits and two earned runs while striking out four. Taft starter Julian Orozco went 6.0 innings and took the loss, surrendering eight hits and six runs while striking out two.

Glover led the Cougars offensively with two hits in three at-bats, one RBI, one walk and a stolen base. Taft also received an RBI from Briones during the fourth-inning rally. As a team, the Cougars finished with seven hits and four walks, but stranded 11 runners. Coalinga totaled 10 hits, drew six walks and left 12 on base.

Played under sunny skies in front of an attendance of 1,000, the game reflected the importance of timely hitting. Taft briefly made it a one-run contest in the fourth, but Coalinga's immediate answer and Nakano's run-scoring double in the sixth kept the Cougars from building a larger comeback at home.