Canyons Gets 6-5 Win Over L.A. Valley

The College of the Canyons baseball team withstood a four-run rally from L.A. Valley in the bottom of the ninth inning and held on to win 6-5 on Tuesday.

Despite playing at Cougar Field, COC was actually the designated away team due to a  scheduling issue.

COC starting pitcher JC Cloney (5-3) earned his third consecutive victory by pitching six shutout innings, while allowing only two hits, two walks and striking out five Monarch batters.

Head coach Chris Cota's lineup jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the end of the fourth inning thanks to home runs by Jake Ryan and Jake Spurlin.

Spurlin finished the game going 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored and now has nine RBIs on the season.

Both Ryan's and Spurlin's home runs were their first of the season.

COC would need a little more in offense to hang onto the victory, however.

In the eighth inning, the Monarchs finally tallied a run to close COC's lead to 3-1.

The following inning, the Cougars added three more runs to their lead as insurance against the eventual L.A. Valley rally.

Tyler Ryan singled in Roy Verdejo to give the Cougars a 4-1 lead. His brother Jake Ryan then followed that up with a two-run double, scoring Tyler and Chris Devery to put the Cougars up 6-1.

Jake Ryan finished the game going 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Monarchs scored four runs to cut COC's lead to 6-5. Jose Haros entered the game to record the final three outs and earn his fourth save of the season.

With the victory, canyons improves its record to 14-10 overall and to 7-5 in Western State Conference, South play.

COC's next game pits them against Merced College in their first game of the Allan Hancock Tournament, beginning at 1 p.m. Tuesday March 31, in Santa Maria.