College of the Canyons baseball took the opener of its three-game series vs. West L.A. College on Tuesday, April 22 behind a lineup that notched 13 hits in a dominant 15-2 road victory.

Canyons (15-21, 9-10), winners in four of its last five, received a strong performance from its bullpen following three shutout innings from starter Kyler Freude.

Freude allowed a walk and two hits before turning the ball over to reliever Derek Hughes. By that time the Cougars had built what proved to be an insurmountable 10-0 lead.

COC received run-scoring singles from Evan Jaquez, Andrew Sherrell and Hunter Essang to begin the game and quickly move ahead at 4-0.

Canyons erupted for six more runs in a big third inning rally highlighted by Jose Mariano‘s three-run home run. Jung Jun Lee and Isaiah Dominguez both came through with an RBI sac-fly to further the scoring.

Jaquez and Reid Farrell combined to bring in three more runs in a fifth inning outburst that made it a 13-0 game.

Hughes (3-5) was eventually credited with the win for his three innings of work, which included three strikeouts vs. two hits. Tyler Hawn also pitched a pair of shutout innings for the Cougars.

West L.A. (9-28, 4-15) didn’t get on the board until a two-run sequence in the bottom of the ninth that made it a 15-2 final score.

Top Performers 

Isaiah Dominguez – 2-for-5, 2 RBI

Hunter Essang – 2-for-3, 2 R, RBI

Derek Hughes – 3 IP, W (3-5) 2 H, 3 K

Jose Mariano – 1-for-6, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI

Evan Jaquez – 2-for-4, 2 BB, 3 R, 2 RBI

Andrew Sherrell – 1-for-4, BB, R, 2 RBI

Upcoming Schedule

Canyons continues its three-game series vs. West L.A. on Thursday, April 24. The 2 p.m. start time represents the final regular season home game at Mike Gillespie Field. That game will be live streamed to fans free of charge on the Cougar Sports Network.

The Cougars then travel back to West L.A. for the regular season finale Friday, April 25, with another 2 p.m. start time.

Stay up to date on all this season’s action by visiting COCAthletics.com and on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.