After an extra-innings win over the Lancaster Eagles, the Canyon Cowboys hosted the visiting Vasquez Mustangs in a non-league contest as the team vied for their ninth win of the season.
In the end, the Mustangs defeated the Cowboys at home Wednesday, 5-1, and handed Canyon its ninth loss of the season.
After the game, Canyon head coach Zach Newman said the Cowboys missed opportunities to execute against Vasquez (6-7-1, 5-2) throughout the game and added that, with three days off between games, the offense looked sluggish.
“[Vasquez] executed and we didn’t. The team that executes tend to win baseball games and they were making hits with runners on and we were not,” he said. “They were making plays when we had runners on and sometimes the ball bounced in your direction. We came out a little sluggish and that wasn’t the game of baseball I was looking to see.”
Throughout the game, the Cowboys (8-9, 0-6) left 12 runners, including a bases-loaded opportunity in the bottom of the fifth inning that ended with a groundout to the pitcher. In every inning, the Cowboys had a runner get on base but couldn’t capitalize to drive in the run.
The Cowboys drove in their lone run of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning when Ryder Brown came across the plate off a Henry Almarez one-run single.
Newman added that although his team had good at-bats, the Cowboys just couldn’t get the ball out of the infield to drive a run in the entire game.
“That stat speaks for itself,” Newman said in response to the Cowboys’ offense leaving 12 runners on base. “When we’re stranding runners out on the bases, it’s going to be hard to beat anybody. And again, we’ve been waiting for that clutch hit to happen and fall for us, but [Vasquez] beat us.”
The Cowboys dropped their ninth game of the year and are one game below .500 in the season, but still have two more games in non-league play before the Foothill league season picks upafter the spring break.
Newman is looking forward to ending the spring break stretch with wins over Quartz Hill and Providence of Burbank and have the most momentum possible when the Cowboys match up against the Golden Valley Grizzlies on Wednesday, April 15.
“I kind of feel like this was kind of some ‘spring break baseball’ going on. So, it’s about getting back to the zone and going out to Quartz Hill and shoving and then playing Providence here,” Newman said. “Hopefully have two more wins under our belt before we go to Golden Valley on Wednesday.”
The Cowboys play their next game on Saturday on the road against the Quartz Hill Royals with first pitch scheduled for 10 a.m.
