No. 19 Canyons Advances to Super Regional, Eliminates No. 6 Orange Coast from Postseason

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director

COSTA MESA —No. 19 College of the Canyons is moving on to the Southern California Super Regional for the first time since 2013 after eliminating host No. 6 Orange Coast College 2-0 in the opening round of the Southern California regional playoffs on Saturday. 

Canyons (24-16) defeated the Pirates (25-16) by a lopsided 16-6 score in game one before coming back to finish the job by a 13-11 final score on Saturday. 

The Cougars, playing as the designated home team, were first to connect in Saturday's slugfest with a five-run first inning. COC and Orange Coast combined for 24 runs on 26 hits (18 from Canyons) in Saturday's game. 

Andy Ambriz brought in the first run ahead of an OCC infield error thar helped two more Cougars cross home plate at 3-0. Alex Sepulveda scored Colin Yeaman with an infield hit and Ryan Camacho later brought in Jake Schwartz with a run-scoring sac-fly and the Cougars were in business at 5-0. 

Orange Coast scored a pair of runs in the fourth to close the gap at 4-2, but Canyons answered right back with another five spot in the fourth. 

This time around it was Ambriz with a big two-run double and RBI singles from Yeaman and Schwartz. Ryan Camacho then reached on a fielder's choice that scored Yeaman and Andrew Allanson capped the inning with a solo home run, his seventh of the season. 

COC starter Brooks Snyder (5-4) earned the win for his five and 2/3 innings of work. The freshman issued nine walks but didn't really get into trouble until the sixth inning with back-to-back two-out walks that loaded the bases. Snyder then handed  the ball to reliever Xavier Stoker. 

A bases loaded walk by Stoker and a subsequent base hit that was enhanced by an infield error led to four more runs being charged to Snyder's account. His final stat line included five runs, three earned, on two hits and nine walks. He also struck out six batters.

With the Cougars leading 12-6 the Pirates attempted to rally with a three-run eighth inning that put things a bit closer at 12-9.

Charlie Rocca's RBI base hit in the eighth brought home Dane Flashberg and extended the lead at 13-9. 

OCC gave the Cougars a brief scare with two runs in the ninth, including a home run from Sebastian Moore, but couldn't complete the comeback bid.

The playoff series win was the first for Canyons since the Cougars eliminated San Bernardo Valley College by a 2-0 margin on the road in 2013.

Top Performers

• Andrew Allanson – 2-for-6, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI
• Andy Ambriz – 2-for-5, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBIs
• Jovan Camacho – 4-for-4, 2 2B, 3 R, 2 SB
• Dane Flashberg – 2-for-5, 2 R
• Charlie Rocca — 2-for-5, SAC, R, RBI
• Colin Yeaman – 3-for-4, BB, 2 R, RBI

Upcoming Schedule

Canyons now advances to the SoCal Super Regionals May 11-13 at Southwestern College in Chula Vista. The Cougars will be playing in the Super Regional round for the first time since 2013.

COC and No. 15 seed Southwestern (24-17) are joined by No. 22 Grossmont College (22-17) in the three-team, double-elimination tournament.

Southwestern eliminated No. 10 Allan Hancock (27-15) by a 2-0 series margin. Likewise, Grossmont got past No. 3 Riverside City College (28-13) by a 2-0 margin in its opening series.

The winner of next weekend's Super Regional will advance to the Southern California Regional Final May 19-21.

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