CONNELL - A late rally wasn't enough for the Warden Cougars as they fell 13-9 to Connell on Saturday afternoon.

Trailing 13-4 going into the top of the seventh, the Cougars (1-1) scored five runs in their last at bat to make things interesting before falling short of a momentous comeback.

Derek Pruneda led off the game with a homerun and finished his day batting 2-for-5. Ty Jesse also went 2-for-5 with a triple, Jacob Yamane went 2-for-2 with a homerun and a single along with two walks, while JP Martinez ended up 3-for-4 and Garritt Marks ended up 2-for-4.

Pitching for Warden was Manuel Amezola who started the game throwing a two-hit shutout through three innings before coming out due to injury.

"Being that it was a non league game and we were hitting the ball so well I went some inexperience on the mound to give Louie Reyes, and Ty Jesse the opportunity pitch at the varsity level," Warden head coach Dan Caballero said. "They threw well but their inexperience showed and Connell hit the ball. Coupled with some errors we finally got out of the fourth inning but not before giving up nine runs. 

"We kind of lost our focus that one inning but I was proud of how our team battled back in the top of the seventh," Caballero added.