Canyons Cruises Past Grossmont 16-6 Into SoCal Regional Finals

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director

CHULA VISTA — College of the Canyons won its Saturday showdown with Grossmont College on day three of the CCCAA SoCal Super Regional, cruising past the Griffins 16-6 behind a gutsy pitching performance from Tyler Biggs and another voracious offensive outing.

Canyons (27-17) has now won three straight and six of its last seven, while scoring a combined 84 runs during that span. The 16 runs scored by COC on Saturday topped the 14 runs produced in Friday's game vs. Grossmont and matched the 16 runs scored in the postseason opener vs. Orange Coast on May. 5

While the Cougars' offensive exploits have carried the headlines in recent days it was Biggs' stellar outing that helped push Canyons to victory in what was a third meeting with the Griffins (24-19). 

Prior to meeting at the SoCal Super Regional opener on Thursday, COC and Grossmont had not previously played each other.

Biggs, a freshman out of Valencia High School, tossed eight brilliant innings for Canyons. He went out to start the ninth but was removed after allowing back-to-back singles to begin that inning. Before that Biggs (4-5) scattered eight hits with a pair of walks and was charged with three earned runs, striking out five in the process. 

The postseason start vs. Grossmont was also the longest outing of the season for Biggs who received some early support from a Cougars' lineup that produced five runs in bottom of the first to help put their pitcher at ease.

Andy Ambriz was first to put Canyons on the board at 2-0 with an RBI double. Ambriz had another monster game and finished the game 5-of-6 with four runs and four RBIs. The Western State Conference (WSC), South Division Player of the Year flexed his muscle throughout the Super Regional round, finishing 11-of-20 with two walks, a home run, triple and three doubles with nine runs and 11 RBIs.

Later in that inning Andrew Allanson doubled home a run and Jake Schwartz brought one in on a groundball out. Ryan Camacho pushed the lead to 5-0 with an RBI single of his own. 

Grossmont starter Caleb Harris lasted just 2/3 of an inning before being pulled in favor of reliever Dylan Vail. Harris (4-2) eventually took the loss after being charged with all five of the Cougars' first inning runs.

The Griffins tried to keep it a ballgame in the second inning by working to push across an unearned run, then seeing a run score on a Biggs wild pitch to make it a 5-2 score.

That's where thing stayed until Canyons was able to put together another five-run outburst in the fifth.

Alex Sepulveda singled home a pair of runs ahead of a Ryan Camacho triple that plated two more and put the Cougars in complete control at 9-2. Another run-producing base hit from catcher Dane Flashberg made it a 10-2 affair. 

Sepulveda was back at it in the sixth with an RBI single. Later it was Allanson scoring on a wild pitch to give the Cougars even more confidence at 12-2. 

The Cougars tacked on three unearned runs in the seventh with Ambriz collecting an RBI in the inning. Ambriz later brought in the Cougars' final run on a base hit in the eighth to put the game at 16-3. 

The Griffins came away with a pair in the ninth for a 16-6 final score that prompted a Canyons celebration. 

Top Performers

• Andrew Allanson — 2-for-5, BB, 2B, 3 R, RBI
• Andy Ambriz — 5-for-6, 2 2B, 4 R, 4 RBI
• Tyler Biggs — W (4-5), 8 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
• Ryan Camacho — 3-for-5, 3B, R, 3 RBI, SB
• Alex Sepulveda — 3-for-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, SB

Upcoming Schedule

No. 19 seed Canyons will now play in the CCCAA Southern California Regional Finals in a best-of-three-game series vs. No. 2 Saddleback College.

Saddleback (34-10) won the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) championship and saw 10 players earn all-conference honors. The Bobcats defeated Glendale College in the opener of its Super Regional then took down El Camino College in back-to-back games to advance to the SoCal Regional Final.

The action gets underway at 2 p.m. Friday from Mission Viejo. Game two is slated for 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 20. If necessary, a third game would be played on Sunday, May 21.

No. 13 Fullerton College (26-20) and No. 4 Santa Ana (31-15) will play in the other SoCal Regional Final series beginning on Friday.

In the North, it will be No. 1 Santa Rosa (33-10) vs. No. 5 Sierra (32-12) along with No. 2 San Joaquin Delta (36-9) and No. 3 Folsom Lake (34-10) squaring off.

The two series winners from both the South and North regions will advance to play at the 2023 CCCAA State Championships May 27-29 at Folsom Lake College.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

—Photo by Sarah Ehrsam/COC Sports Medicine