PREP BASEBALL: WARDEN 5-6, Burbank 3-5

WARDEN - A hard-nosed group of Warden Cougars continue to find ways to win.

Last night, the Cougars won two tough non-league battles with Columbia-Burbank as they rallied for 5-3 and 6-5 wins to move to 15-2 overall on the year.

In the opener, Warden trailed 3-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning when the hot hitting Jacob Yamane blasted a three-run home run to put his team up for good.

Yamane and the Cougars added an insurance run in the sixth inning to cement the win.

"Jacob's just really playing within himself and has finally found that groove," Warden head coach Dan Caballero said. "He and Derek Pruneda have been our go-to guys. Jacob has been hitting the cover off the ball. He's just relaxed and doing some good stuff."

Yamane has six homers on the year and has hit five over a recent five-game stretch. He went 2-for-3 in game one.

Manuel Amezola pitched a complete game for the win, striking out five while scattering seven hits.

"He battled and got us out of key situations to keep us in it," Caballero said of Amezola. "He really pitched a solid game."

In the second game, Warden trailed 5-2 with one more at-bat and they proceeded to score four runs with one out in the seventh to wrap up the sweep.

A single, a walk, and three straight singles won the game for Warden when Cruz Pruneda belted a shot up the middle of the diamond to bring home two runs and take advantage of a bases loaded situation.

Derek Pruneda went 2-for-4 with an RBI to help the Cougars' cause.

"The boys keep surprising me with how resilient they are," Caballero said. "I challenged the kids before the last at-bat and told them we can't lose it. They just stepped up to the plate and did the job."