Foderaro Answers Call for Canyons : College baseball: Sophomore heeds plea for better pitching in Cougars’ victory over Pierce.

With his College of the Canyons team sailing along in first place in the Western State Conference and no apparent weak spot in its batting order, Coach Len Mohney was surprisingly tense before Saturday’s game at Pierce.

The Cougars (20-4, 17-2 in conference play), sporting a .331 batting average in conference play and a 4 1/2-game lead over second-place Valley entering the game, had been winning with their bats--often in comeback fashion.

Canyons’ heavy reliance on its offense concerned Mohney. So he called for stronger pitching during a pregame meeting, then handed the ball to 6-foot-3 right-hander Kevin Foderaro.

The sophomore from Hart High delivered, working 7 1/3 innings in a 12-5 victory. Foderaro (6-2) was not overpowering--he struck out one, walked three and scattered nine hits. But he provided the savvy Mohney was seeking, getting ahead in the count, working out of jams and keeping the explosive Cougars in the game long enough for their bats to break it open.

And with the score tied, 4-4, in the top of the eighth, Canyons sent 12 batters to the plate and scored six runs. Two-run singles by Andy Shaw and John Davis, along with back-to-back RBI doubles by Ted Kiester and Chad Miyata, keyed the inning.

The bigger key was Foderaro. He got out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the second inning and shook off a stinging line drive that struck his foot in the third.

“This was his best game in about four starts,” said Mohney of Foderaro. “The way he kept the ball low and kept us in the game, was awesome.”

Foderaro held Pierce (13-10, 11-8)--with a .328 batting average and 10-plus runs-a-game average--to four unearned runs before giving way to Jason Chandler.

“This is the best I’ve felt in almost a month,” Foderaro said. “I was really keeping the ball down, which is something I’ve had trouble with. I wanted to go nine (innings), but I was up there in the pitching count (116 pitches) and it was a six-run lead.”

Chandler retired the final five batters. Canyons, which trailed, 4-2, in the fifth inning, had 15 hits. Kirk Fellows and Keith Halcovich each contributed three.