Denair High struggled through the first two days of this year’s Art McRae Ceres Tournament, losing a close 4-1 game to Rio Vista High on Monday and dropping Tuesday’s game against Orestimba High, 14-1.

Monday’s game was one of the Coyotes’ closest of the season as they and the Rams played five innings sans runs. Denair finally got onto the board in the sixth inning when Avery Martinez scored on a pass ball, but Rio Vista responded with four runs on its subsequent at bat to steal the win.

“I was happy with the performance. We put the ball in play; the thing that killed us was the fly balls,” Denair’s head coach Mike Souza said.

After such a close game on Monday, the Coyotes entered Tuesday’s game at Ceres High with enthusiasm. Denair’s elevated attitude showed through in the first inning when a Kaleb Arraiz base hit crossed Dudley from second base, but the Warriors quickly unleashed a killer combination of solid hitting and hard pitching.

Orestimba scored five runners in the first inning before adding eight more runs in the second inning—a virtual death nail for any remaining Coyote momentum. While the Warriors blasted balls from the plate, pitcher Adrian Perez rocketed them from the mound. Perez contained Denair’s batters with his power and allowed only three hits by game’s end.

“He threw hard and well and we didn’t have an answer for him,” Souza said about Perez.

“The gates were open and we couldn’t get out after that,” he added, talking about the eight-run second inning.

Denair now looks to turn its tournament experience around in today’s game against Pacheco High. The game will be played at Ceres High and is set to begin at 10 a.m.

“We just got to compete. We’re playing bigger schools in this tournament so it’s only going to make us better for the rest of league,” Souza said.