WARDEN -  The Warden Cougars dropped their first league game of the season at Riverside Christian on Saturday but bounced back to split the doubleheader.

Warden's made a late push but fell 16-15 in game one before claiming a 4-1 win in the nightcap.

The Cougars (11-2, 6-1) were hit hard in the RC fifth inning, giving up nine runs. The Cougars made a late charge from the 14-9 deficit but couldn't quite get over the hump.

"Even though we let one get away I was really proud about how we battled and hit the ball," Warden head coach Dan Caballero said. "In my years of coaching I have never seen two teams hit the ball like today.  Usually with a score like this you see a lot of errors but that wasn't the case today."

Jacob Yamane went 3-for-4 with two home runs, a triple, and three RBI, while Ty Jesse  and Anthony Platas each had three-hit games.

The nightcap saw both teams' bats cool and Warden's pitching dominate in a 4-1 win.

Marcelo Pruneda continued his recent mastery with a seven inning, complete game, six hitter.

Yamane hit another homer and went 2-for-3 as Derek Pruneda also went 2-for-3.

"I was worried that after an exhausting game like the first one that our kids would mentally out of it, but they responded well," Caballero said. "Marcelo set the tone on the mound and defensively we played the best that we have in awhile.  I was really pleased with the way we responded and played after a long game one."