Cougars take pair from Jaguars
WARDEN — The Warden Cougars took on the Tri-Cities Prep Jaguars Saturday at the friendly confines of Warden High School.
The Cougars overall record improved to 2-2 after sweeping both games of the doubleheader from the Jaguars.
In the first game of the two-game series, Warden head coach Dan Caballero sent star pitcher and student-athlete Arty Reyes to the mound to face the batters from Tri-Cities Prep.
The first game got off to a scoreless start as neither the Cougars nor the Jaguars could find their way onto the scoreboard.
After Reyes kept the Jaguars scoreless in the top of the second, Jacob Yamane gave the Cougars a 3-0 lead when he blasted a home run over the left field fence. Warden would score another run in the second and the Cougars took a 4-0 lead after two innings.
The Cougars brought a pair of runs across the plate in the third inning and Warden led 6-0.
Warden added to their lead in the fourth inning when Caballero and his Cougars had the bases loaded. Caballero had his base runner steal home before the Cougars cruised to the 10-0 victory.
Following a solid performance on the mound from Reyes, game one was called in the bottom of the fifth inning because of the 10-run mercy rule. Warden won game one with a decisive 10-0 victory. The mercy rule ends the game after the leading team is ahead by 10 runs or more and the trailing team has batted five times.
Coach Caballero was proud of his team’s performance in the game-one win over the Jaguars.
“The kids were solid today,” Caballero said. “They should have a pretty good year.”
In the second game of the doubleheader, Warden continued to cruise, ending the doubleheader in much the same way as it started. The Cougars offense poured it on Tri-Cities Prep for the majority of their game-two contest before Warden activated the mercy rule in the bottom of the sixth inning for an 11-1 victory.
After the two-game sweep of the Jaguars, Caballero said his pitching staff performed well Saturday.
“The pitchers have three earned runs, which is pretty darn good for this time of the season,” he said.