The drought is over, Yucaipa clinches Citrus Belt League baseball championship

The Thunderbirds scored eight runs in the first inning and 10 in the third to put the game away early. Junior right-hander Pedro Cota picked up his tenth (10-0) win of the season, and he was amply aided by his long-ball swinging teammates. Matt Davidson hit two home runs and Matt Marnati had a solo blast. As a team, the Thunderbirds pounded out 25 hits, including 8 doubles and 2 triples.

Davidson (3-for-3, 3 RBI) hit the longest Thunderbirds' home run of the season with a blast well over the left-center fence estimated to be between 450 and 475 feet that bounced on to the football field. The senior third baseman and pitcher has been a four-year starter. Finally winning the league title is a great way to end the regular season, he said.

"This feels great," said Davidson. "This has been our goal since I stepped on the varsity field and we finally did it. It's one of our goals, the second is to win CIF."

Davidson said he expected big things from the team this year, but there were a few pleasant surprises. "Pedro (Cota) really stepped up for us," he said, adding that the hitting has improved also. "Last year we would hit in one game and the next not at all. This year everybody is hitting."

The victory over Eisenhower also broke and tied a couple of school records. Yucaipa needed to score 8 runs coming into the game to break the previous scoring record of 281 runs set in 2001. After all 23 runs were accounted for, the Thunderbirds' all-time scoring mark now stands at 297. Yucaipa also tied for the most wins Stout has ever had in any one season - matching the 25 wins the 1994 Thunderbirds (25-5) notched in winning a CIF Championship.

The CIF will release the playoff brackets on Monday at 1 p.m. Stout expects to open first-round play at home on Thursday, he said.

The Thunderbirds are ranked #2 in the latest CIF Division II coaches' poll behind #1 El Toro (21-4 overall, 13-1 champion of the six-team Sea View League.) In looking ahead at the playoff competition, Stout points to the El Toro as a worthy challenge.

"No question the team in front of us is one of the teams to beat," he said. "El Toro won the title last year and beat Redlands East Valley (7-0) in the finals. The great thing would be to see us and El Toro in the finals - we'd like to have some vindication for the CBL."

SCOREBOARD: Yucaipa 23, Eisenhower 0. WP Pedro Cota, (10-0) 6 IP, 7 hits, 7K's, 0 earned runs; Taijuan Walker, 1IP, 2K's.
Batting, Frank Martin 3-3, 2B, 4 RBI; Matt Davidson 3-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI 3Runs; Todd Seymour 1-1, 3B, RBI; Caleb Nazario Run; Wyatt Padgett 4-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 3 Runs; David Petta 1-2, 2B; Chad Erickson 3-5, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 4 Runs; Bret Meservey 1-2, 2B, Run; Cody Meservey 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, Run; Matt Hardison 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI, Run; Matt Marnati 2-4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 Run; Wilson Stewart 1-2; Taijuan Walker 2-4, 2B, Run; Brian Derryberry 2 Runs.