Canyons Rallies to Beat Pierce for 12th Win in a Row

Mike Bible does not believe in keeping a low profile when playing baseball.

The sophomore catcher for College of the Canyons stalks to the mound when he wants to confer with his pitcher and he lashes away at pitches near the strike zone when he is at the plate.

Finesse is not a Bible trademark.

Clutch hitting, however, is a Bible staple. He proved it again Thursday when he drove in the winning run with a fly ball in the eighth inning to lead Canyons to its 12th consecutive win, a 4-2 Western State Conference victory over host Pierce.

For Bible, the win was satisfying because Canyons (15-3, 10-0 in conference play) trailed for the first six innings.

“Pierce is always a dogfight for us,” Bible said. “We know we’re going to win, it’s just a matter of who’s going to come through.”

Bible’s fly ball to right scored Nix and snapped a 2-2 tie. Nix reached first on a controversial play when he grounded to pitcher Mike Clark and eluded his tag while nearly running out of the baseline. Nix stole second and moved to third on Adam Grant’s sacrifice bunt.

“Those little bunts in the eighth killed us,” said Pierce Coach Bob Lyons, whose team has lost four in a row.

Pierce also hurt itself in the home half of the eighth. Paul Plyler was on third and Jim Doushgounian was on first. Doushgounian broke for second, but Canyons pitcher Pablo Suarez picked Plyler off third.

“We tried to force them to throw the ball to second and then the guy on third would have scored,” Lyons said.

Pierce (9-9, 3-7), took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Plyler beat out an infield single, stole second and scored on John Brasher’s grounder down the line into left field.

The Brahmas increased their lead to 2-0 in the sixth. David Clemons bunted for a hit and moved to second on Plyler’s sacrifice bunt. Clemons took third when Bible overthrew second on a pickoff attempt and scored on Doushgounian’s fly to left.

The Cougars trailed going into the seventh, but Canyons Coach Len Mohney wasn’t worried.

“We didn’t push any panic buttons,” Mohney said. “We knew we would get something going. These guys just think they’re going to win and that helps a lot.”

Canyons tied the score, 2-2, in the seventh. Randy Cooper doubled to the fence in right to score John Glantz, who had walked and advanced on Ernie Perez’s single. Perez scored from third on Billy Picketts’ fly to right.

The Cougars scored their final run in the ninth when Jeff Flesher scored on a passed ball.