No. 2 Canyons Drops Game, Season Series to No. 12 Bakersfield

The No. 2 College of the Canyons baseball team dropped its first three-game series of the season after losing its rubber match with No. 12 Bakersfield College by a 10-6 score at Cougar Field on Saturday.

Canyons (24-6, 11-4) also suffered a road loss to the Renegades on Thursday, representing the first time this season that head coach Chris Cota's club has lost back-to-back games.

Bakersfield jumped to an early 6-0 lead on Saturday, getting three runs in each of the first two innings.

But COC cut that margin in half in the bottom of the third from a home run by sophomore Darren Kriz, followed by an RBI double by sophomore Roy Verdejo that brought in two more runs.

In the bottom of the fifth, Canyons closed within two after a double by sophomore Jake Spurlin brought in Verdejo.

The Renegades stopped the comeback with three more runs in the top of the sixth. Even with freshman Chad Bible's two-run home run in the bottom of that inning the Renegade advantage was too much for COC to come back from.

Sophomore Colton Burns led the Cougars with two runs on two hits. Verdejo and Bible led with two RBIs apiece. 

COC freshman pitcher Justin Dehn and sophomore Zach Hanks each had five strikeouts. 

Canyons (24-6, 11-4) will next travel to Glendale College on Tuesday, April 19, for the start of a three-game series. First pitch is at 2:30 p.m.