Cougars Score 16-12 Road Win at San Diego Mesa

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

SAN DIEGO — College of the Canyons produced a season-high 16 runs behind big days from Doyle Kane and Tafton Hensley to get past host San Diego Mesa 16-12 on Thursday in a high-scoring affair that had to be called after seven innings due to darkness.

Canyons plated runs in each of the first three innings, including an eight-run third, to limit any damage the Olympians imposed on COC's pitching staff.

San Diego managed to put together multi-run innings in four of the first five frames but could never really recover from the Cougars' big outburst. 

Doyle Kane and Hensley started filling their box score in the first inning. Doyle Kane doubled in brother Mikey Kane for the first run of the game. Hensley then brought Doyle Kane home with an RBI base hit.

Mikey Kane was back after it in the second with a run-scoring single. Then, not satisfied with just one double, Doyle Kane added his second two-bagger of the day for a three-RBI extra-base hit that made it a 6-1 lead for COC.

The Olympians got back into the game at 6-3 with a pair of manufactured runs, but any momentum gained was short-lived.

Hensley and Andy Abriz both homered in the third inning to give Canyons a 9-3 lead.

Doyle Kane and DJ Kougher went on to work back-to-back walks, which both produced RBIs, and put the game at 11-3. That sequence set the table for Hensley's second at-bat of the inning, which he turned into a bases-clearing three-RBI double and a 14-3 Cougar advantage.

Alex Ballesteros helped push across a late pair of unearned runs, first scoring on an outfield error in the sixth, then reaching base on an infield error that allowed Steven Gonzalez to score and put the game at 16-12. That's where things stood until the game was eventually called before the start of the eighth.

Kyle Cop started for the Cougars and lasted the first 2 1/3 innings before handing the ball to Josh Yosafan who took Canyons through the fourth inning. 

From there it was Brandon Whiting for two strong innings and Xavier Stoker to close the door in the seventh with three strikeouts.

Canyons (5-8) has now alternated wins and losses over its last four games after back-to-back victories vs. Rio Hondo and then Ventura on Feb. 12 and 15. COC had also previously defeated S.D. Mesa (1-11) by an 8-3 final score back on Feb. 8 at Cougar Field, good for the club's first win of the year.

CANYONS TOP PERFORMERS

• Tafton Hensley — 3-for-5, HR, double, run, 6 RBI
• Doyle Kane — 2-for-4, 2 doubles, BB, 2 runs, 5 RBI
• Andy Ambriz — 3-for-4, HR, BB, 2 runs, RBI
• Mikey Kane — 1-for-3, 2 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI
• Ryan Camacho — 2-for-4, BB, 2 runs

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Canyons is back home Tuesday, March 1 vs. Cypress College. That game, the first in a home-away series, is scheduled for a 2 p.m. first pitch. The two teams will go at it again at 2 p.m. Thursday in Cypress.

COC baseball home games will be live streamed to fans on YouTube via the Cougars Sports Network. Continue to monitor www.COCathletics.com for livestream links or subscribe to the COC Athletics channel on YouTube. 

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 Mari Kneisel/COC Sports Information