Coyotes Have No Margin for Error in Playoff Chase

This is it, the biggest week of the season for the Calabasas High baseball team.  

As cliché as it sounds, it's now or never. Do or die. Win or go home.  

With a pair of games on the schedule over the course of the next couple of days, the Coyotes need back-to-back wins to strengthen their chances of securing a postseason berth with the CIF Southern Section playoffs looming in two-plus weeks. 

As it stands, Calabasas (13-12 overall, 5-6 in Marmonte League) is tied with Westlake for fifth place in the standings.

A home game against Moorpark on Wednesday is the first test followed by Friday's road game at Thousand Oaks.  

"Things don't get any bigger these two upcoming games,'' Calabasas coach Ed Edsall said. "Every game is important. We have to get some wins.''  

Edsall said that finishing no worse than fourth in league play will lock up a berth in the Division I playoffs, but ending up in fifth place could ultimately prove costly for the Coyotes, who then would have to rely on receiving an at-large berth.  

The goal, undoubtedly, is to take care of business this week.  

There's no sense in leaving things up to a committee that might not take into account everything Calabasas has accomplished thus far.  

"We control our destiny--that's all you can ask for,'' Edsall said.  

The Coyotes received an encouraging sign last week when they gave first-place Royal (20-5, 10-1) all it could handle before losing, 1-0.  

If Jacob Camhi, Kevin Khalili and the Coyotes can duplicate that effort their results this week figure to be good.  

After the showdown against second-place Moorpark (18-8, 8-3), the Coyotes take on Thousand Oaks (13-12, 6-5).

A victory over the Thousand Oaks Lancers is imperative and could put the teams in a deadlock for fourth place with one regular-season game remaining.