Over 30 Santa Clarita Valley alumni took the field last week in the College of the Canyons baseball home matchup with the LA Mission Eagles.
Twenty-nine former Foothill League stars faced off with high school teammates as the two junior college squads battled in the second of a three-game series matchup.
The Cougars (16-15) swept the Eagles (11-21) in the three-game Western State Conference series, outscoring LA Mission 35-11 through the week.
Former high school teammates face off at this level all the time, but COC coach Chris Cota knew the energy of the game would be different last week.
“It shouldn’t change anything but we know there’s gonna be some chirping going on ’cause they know each other,” Cota said. “That leads to extra energy out there like it was … It makes the game a little more or more interesting.”
Canyons clinched the series at home on Thursday with a 13-7 win in some light on-and-off rain.
COC sophomore Jake Schwartz finished the day 2-for-3 and closed out the game with a perfect inning on the bump. However, LA Mission shortstop Jake Callahan had the hottest bat of the five West Ranch alumni in the game.
Callahan finished the day 3-for-4, as he and Schwartz have dozens of memories of hitting right off Valencia Boulevard. Fellow former Wildcat Josef Brosche also hit 1-for-3 for Mission.
Former Foothill League MVP Jose Mariano of Valencia also suited up for the Eagles this season and finished both Thursday’s and Saturday’s contests 2-for-4. Mariano had two RBI singles as well as having some fun with former teammate Evan Jaquez while he was on first base. The two playfully shoved and pulled as Jaquez looked to advance past his former teammate.
Mariano didn’t get any balls out of the park in the Canyons series but still leads the state in home runs with 13 on the year.
As for the pitching, Oscar Patron got the start for COC and threw the ball well when it was dry. Patron went four innings, struck out four batters and gave up three runs.
Saugus alumnus John Bahr earned the win for Canyons after he went three-innings strong with four hits, three runs and seven strikeouts.
Fellow former Centurion Darren Davis entered in the eighth for Bahr and allowed just one hit with one strikeout. Davis also coached Castaic baseball last year in the program’s CIF championship run and had the pleasure of fanning his former player, now opponent, LA Mission freshman Joji Sakata.
Sakata added hits in both Tuesday’s and Saturday’s games.
COC catcher Dominic Cervantes led the offense with a pair of solo home runs.
There were a high number of walks in the wet game but still a ton of hitting as both teams totaled 27 hits.
COC then hit 17 of Saturday’s 26 hits to close out the series with a sweep. Charlie Rocca stole the spotlight with a two-home-run game of his own and now has five on the season.
Rocca and Jaquez were two of six Cougars with multi-hit days, including Cervantes, who batted 4-for-5.
“Charlie’s been struggling and it was nice to see him hit a couple of baseballs,” Cota said. “He has been a good player for us for a year and a half now. He probably would like to be doing a little better than he’s done offensively but he’s still playing good defense. Hopefully he can keep contributing on offense.”
Davis earned his first win of the season on Saturday in relief. Davis allowed one run through two innings of work and fanned four.
The Cougars won the series opener 6-0, on the back of its ace Joseph Jasso. The pitcher threw a complete-game shutout, in which he allowed just six hits with one walk, while striking out 11 opponents.
“Jasso threw game one and he’s been real good for us,” Cota said. “We knew if we played defense and put up with some runs on the board that we had a pretty good chance to win that game if Jasso pitches like he’s been pitching.”
Jasso currently ranks third in the state with 88 strikeouts this season.
Canyons has now won four straight after the sweep and a win over Antelope Valley College.
COC has just two more conference series left before the postseason, where the team is looking for redemption. Canyons rosters plenty of freshmen but also returned 14 sophomores who all wish to return to at least the Southern California Regional Finals.
“They’re playing well, they’re confident, they’re loose. Hopefully we can keep this going this week,” Cota said.
Canyons returns home on Tuesday to open up its conference series with West LA at 2:30 p.m.
