The Signal : Wednesday, March 20, 2002 : Ryan Lambert

Hart knocks off Canyon

Turnabout was fair play— and what went around, came around.

It took eight innings, but Hart took advantage and then took care of unfinished business by handing Canyon its first loss of the season, 6-5, in the Tuesday twilight.

It was the Indians first visit to Canyon since the Cowboys (7-1) dealt them their first and only loss of the regular season last year.

“League makes this even better, and, being undefeated, it’s good to give them their first loss,” Hart junior Danny Williams said.

Williams opened the eighth inning with a sharp double to the gap in right-center off Canyon ace Jake Coash, whose fastball reaches the low 90s.

“He’s good. He’s one of the best,” Williams said of Coash.

Todd Wilson, after failing to get two bunts down, slapped a single past Canyon second baseman Josh Schreck who was headed toward the middle and had to dive back to his left to try to make a play.

“I was just looking to put something in play and move the guy over,” Wilson said.

The well-placed single gave the Indians their first lead of the game, 6-5.

“We definitely felt pumped up. That was a key point in the game,” Wilson said. “We felt confident about it. We’ve seen some fast pitchers in the past... we knew we could hit him.”

Wilson was caught trying to steal second and Coash struck out Chris Valaika and Jason Brown to end the inning.

Ironically, the hard-throwing Coash, who held the Indians to their lowest offensive output last season, was dubbed with the loss.

The senior entered the game in the sixth, relieving Sergio Almanzar who had walked the first batter of the inning. With a 5-3 lead, Coash (3-1) promptly issued John Curtis a pass on four pitches to put runners on first and second.

Hart’s Chris Steck then laid down a bunt back to the box to move the runners to second and third. Coash backhanded the ball and, trying to catch the lead runner, threw high over Eric Ashbrook at third.

Craig Cohen scored from second on the error and cut the Cowboys’ lead to 5-4.

Disaster struck again for the Cowboys when Indian Andy Sevanian’s swing bunt was fielded by catcher Justin Schwartz who threw wide of first base. Canyon’s second throwing error in as many batters allowed Curtis to tie the game, 5-5.

“We still know that we should be on top and we just handed them the game,” Canyon center fielder Ryan Pipho said. “I guess it’s just one of those things.”

When the two teams met at Canyon last season, it was a miscue by the undefeated Indians which triggered the upset. In that game, Hart ace Eric Posthumus balked in the tying run in the third inning. The Indians got the lead back, 2-1, the following inning before losing it for good in the fifth.

This time around, however, the chiming bats in the Cowboys’ lineup were uncharacteristically silenced— and, ironically, it was a hard-throwing left-hander who did it.

Jeff Icenogle, who was used sparingly in relief for the Indians last season, entered in the third inning for Hart starter Won Yoo.

“There’s nothing to lose. We just had to come out and play,” Icenogle said. “This was a big one. Everyone wants to get into this game.”

Yoo allowed all five Cowboys’ runs in his 2 1/3 innings of work as it seemed the Canyon offense had picked up where it left off when it beat Valencia 9-1 Friday.

“I did think (we’d continue to hit) because we’ve done it all year. This was very unexpected,” Pipho said. “We were thinking we could get the bats going, but a lot of hitters were off balance and sitting back.”

Icenogle went 5 2/3 innings striking out five to get the win.

He ran into trouble in the eighth, however, when Clay Britton led the inning off with a double down the right-field line. Schreck grounded out to second moving Britton to third.

Schwartz was plunked after pulling a ball long and just foul down the left-field line. Chris Didonna, who pinch-ran for Schwartz, stole second uncontested to put runners at second and third.

Pinch-hitter Cody Leavitt tapped back to Icenogle who caught Britton in a rundown along the third baseline.

With two outs, pinch runner Stephan Cash stole second uncontested and Kyle Zeiler was issued a walk.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Pipho flew out to Sevanian in left and Hart was back in the win for the first time in more than a week.

“We just know they think they’re going to win and we wanted to show them up,” Icenogle said. “We know we’re the best team in league.”