No. 4 Canyons Downs L.A. Mission 18-7 to Win Eighth Straight

The No. 4 Southern California ranked College of the Canyons baseball team hit six home runs on its way to an 18-7 victory over West L. A. College on Saturday that extended the team's winning streak to eight games.

The Cougars laced 20 hits over nine innings to score 18 runs and made short work of West L. A. starting pitcher Madden Laing, chasing him from the game after just 1 1/3 innings of work. He was charged with nine earned runs and two home runs.

Cougars starter Justin Dehn (3-0) earned his third win of the season pitching five innings and allowing just two hits and one run, while striking out eight batters.

Four Cougars had three hits in the game including Colton Burns, Anthony Lepre, Jake Spurlin and Darren Kriz.

The Cougars jumped all over West L.A. pitching in the first three innings scoring 14 runs.

The onslaught started in the first inning as COC scored six runs after trailing 1-0 after the first half inning. COC loaded the bases and got two hits from Lepre and Spurlin to go up 3-1.

After Lepre scored on a passed ball, Kriz doubled home two more runs scoring Spurlin and Wyatt Hoppie to end the inning with the Cougars ahead 6-1.

In the second inning, the Cougar bats erupted, launching back-to-back-to-back home runs. Roy Verdejo, Lepre and Spurlin hit the long shots to put the Cougars up 10-1 after the second inning.

Shortstop JD Krauskopf then hit the Cougars fourth home run of the day to lead off the third inning. 

Later in the inning, Verdejo followed things up with an RBI double that brought home two more runs. He later scored on a Spurlin single to put the Cougars up 14-1 after three innings. 

Verdejo ended the game 2-for-5 while scoring three runs and driving in four. 

Not to be left out of the power display, Kriz added two home runs of his own. He hit a solo home run in the sixth inning, then a three-run home run in the seventh inning to round out scoring for the Cougars putting COC out in front by an 18-7 score. 

Kriz ended the game going 3-for-5 with two home runs and six runs batted in.

The win improved COC's record to 20-4 on the season and to 7-2 within Western State Conference play.

Canyons will next hit the road to take on L. A. Mission College at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5.