Cougars baseball rips through to state semis

Warden and baseball coach Dan Caballero, left, and Derek Pruneda, are heading to the Class 2B state semifinals this next weekend.

by Alan Dale<br> Herald Sports Writer
| May 24, 2011 6:00 AM

SPOKANE - Shadle Park High School was the site of seeing a baseball performance the Warden Cougars have come to expect in 2011.

Behind strong pitching and a balanced hitting attack the Cougars secured two state regional round wins on Saturday and advanced to the Class 2B state semifinals in Yakima starting on Friday.

The Cougars (21-3) defeated Kettle Falls 7-0 and followed that up with a 14-7 thumping of Colton to set up a 4 p.m. semifinal with LaConner at Parker Field. The other semifinal features Seattle Lutheran and DeSales.

In the first game shutout win, Marcelo Pruneda threw a three-hitter for the win, striking out nine while walking three.

"Behind Marcelo's great pitching performance both our defense and hitting really supported him," Warden head coach Dan Caballero said. "We have a lot of confidence behind our pitching knowing that we can play defense and swing the bats pretty good."

Warden scored in four different innings to peck and build on a lead that Kettle Falls could never make ground on.

Eight different Cougars batters got at least one hit with Cruz Pruneda and J.P. Martinez leading the way with two hits apiece.

"I thought we would have trouble with Kettle Falls pitcher because we haven't faced a kid that threw side arm," Caballero said. "But we stayed patient and the pitch he threw in our zone and hit it hard."

A few hours later the bats got hotter as Warden moved past Colton in the quarterfinals.

Manuel Amezola got the win with Jacob Yamane earned the save with a seventh inning relief appearance.

Warden led 4-0 after their first at bats only to see Colton get three back in the bottom half of the frame.

Then the Cougars answered with two runs in the second and finished off the win with a key six-run explosion in the fifth.

"When you can hit the ball like we have been doing and get 18 hits your going to score some runs," Caballero said. "We hit the ball one through nine and I have confidence in our bench kids also. Ruben Martinez came off the bench in the sixth and lead off the inning with a single to right that really opened the game up for us."

Derek Pruneda went 4-for-4, Cruz Pruneda ended up 3-for-4 with three RBI, Garritt Marks finished 3-for-5 with three RBI, and Ty Jesse went 3-for-5.

Anthony Platas added two hits while four other batters got a hit.

"I had watched Colfax and I knew that if we can keep them off the bases by not walking or making errors that we would have a great chance of winning," Caballero said. "Their team speed is what really worried me going into the game."

Now it appears Warden's all around game could be the thing three other teams concern themselves with in Yakima on Friday.