Canyons Lineup Explodes in 18-5 Rout of West L.A.

An 18 run offensive explosion by the College of the Canyons baseball team pushed the Cougars past West L.A. 18-5 on Thursday to give head coach Chris Cota's club back-to-back wins for the first time in roughly a month.

Five COC players had multiple-RBI games, and the Cougars scored five runs in the second inning and seven runs in the fourth inning to open up the game and establish a lead for good.

Canyons took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when a sacrifice fly ball from designated hitter Jake Spurlin drove in Cougars shortstop Jose Haros.

However, the lead proved to be short-lived as West L.A. responded in the top of the second inning with three runs of its own to take a 3-1 advantage.

That was when things got going for COC.

After brothers Tyler Ryan and Jake Ryan opened the second inning with a pair of singles, Cole Mears walked and Colton Burns reached base on an error allowing

Tyler Ryan to score on the botched play.

Jake Ryan would score during the next at bat thanks to a wild pitch.

COC pushed three additional runs across the board in the bottom of the second with Mears scoring on a sacrifice fly and Roy Verdejo knocking in two more runs with a single.

The Cougars (17-11, 9-5) put the visiting team away in the bottom of the fourth inning with seven runs scored on a combination of two errors and three hits.

Verdejo got things going again with a one out double before a string of errors, a hit batter and a wild pitch keyed a seven run rally in which the Wildcats surrendered six unearned runs.

Verdejo finished the game 4-for-5 with three RBIs and one walk. Teammates Burns, Mears and Dylan Freyre joined him as multiple-RBI producers.

Canyons pitcher JC Cloney picked up his sixth win of the season, allowing just two earned runs and striking out five batters in six innings of work.

The win gives COC three victories in its last four contests. 

Next up for Canyons is a rematch at West L.A. with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, April 11.