Ranked no.5 in the state, EC Baseball will try to take another conference championship with combo prospect Kyle Petter, a freshman drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 44th round.
Although early in the season, Thursday marked the warriors first conference loss at home to the Mt. San Antonio College Mounties 2-5 and only the second home loss on the season.
“We expect to compete for the conference championship, we won it two years ago and came in second last year, so our expectations are always that,” Fernley said.
With a successful conference record EC could earn its third straight playoff appearance, already establishing its place as a conference power, ranked no.5 after only two conference games with an overall record of 11-5-1, 1-1 in conference.
“He pitched a good game, they made us earn it and we did not,” Coach Nate Fernley said.
Sophomore pitcher Kellen Moen (1-2) pitched five shut out innings, giving up a run in the sixth then a two-run home run in the eighth, the first allowed by Moen.
Not rattled after Moen gave up the two run shot in the eighth, he finished the inning strong with his eighth and ninth strikeouts on the day.
“We broke down defensively in the 9th(inning) we are usually a good defensive team,” Fernley said.
In the top of the ninth, freshman reliever Adam Fernandez came in to try and keep the game close, but failed to after two errors, one on a play at home then another going to second leading to two more runs tacked on.
“(Our goal) Win conference, we want to win state, by throwing strikes and playing defense, also we are leaving too many runners in scoring position,” Fernley said.
Leaving 11 runners on in the loss to Mt. SAC, Fernley sees a pattern that is being addressed, being a matter of keeping the player’s heads in the game.
“Pitching wise to give my team a chance to win the game, trying to go as deep into the game as possible,” Kyle Petter, freshman outfielder said.
Depth in the pitching rotation has pushed pitchers Beau Hopps, Adam Fernandez, and Petter with double duty.
“We are moving in the right direction, seven of the nine position players are freshman, so we have a very young team on the field,” Fernley said.
With all of the talent on the field, although young, Fernley expects the hard work of the freshman to carry through the whole season at the top of the South Coast Conference.
“We started off a little rough but now we are playing better baseball, we should do well as long as we are not beating ourselves,” Moen said.
Moen is expecting to continue pitching next year at the University of Oregon, which is re-establishing their baseball program.
“The main thing personally expected for the season is to be able to establish three pitches for strikes,” Moen said.
With depth on the mound, and solid foundation in the outfield, the warriors are starting strong on the path to the playoffs set to take place May 8.
“We are mature on the mound, and talented everywhere else so our expectations are high for the season,” Fernley said.