By Jesse Lubiniecki

TAFT, CA – Taft College Baseball played College of the Desert Roadrunners this past Friday for an out of conference game in Palm Springs.

The game was exciting with both teams going back and forward on the board. Taft struck first in the 3rd inning as Gaku Yamamoto doubled to bring in two runs, giving Taft a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, Aiden Otano put a ball in play driving in another run to extend Taft's advantage to 3-0. Desert responded in the 5th inning putting up a 5 spot and ramping the score up 5-3.

Taft didn't back down. In the 6th inning, Ty Moore advanced to second on a passed ball, then scored on a catcher's error to bring Taft within one, 5-4. Odnal Rivera then singled to tie the game at 5-5. But Desert quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when chipping in a run to make it 6-5.

The 7th inning saw Taft take control. Moore was hit by a pitch to bring in a run, and Rivera walked to add another, giving Taft a 7-6 lead. Moore advanced to third, and a passed ball allowed Rhett Hodgins to score, extending Taft's lead to 8-6.

Desert couldn't respond in the final innings as Sabatian Montoya held the line allowing no runs to score through the last three innings to secure the victory and keep the streak alive.

The Cougars are back in conference play starting this Tuesday, April 4 as they face Reedley College for a home game at 2:00 pm.