College of the Canyons baseball clubbed three home runs in the fifth and took a tie game into the 10th inning before eventually falling to Chaffey College in a 7-6 final score at Mike Gillespie Field on Wednesday, Feb. 12.

Canyons (1-7) plated its first two runs on back-to-back, two out, bases loaded walks from Jung Jun Lee and Frankie Malagon in the first inning to take an early 2-1 lead.

That advantage would be short lived as Chaffey (6-2-1) was able to build a 5-2 lead heading to the bottom of the fifth.

The Cougars countered with back-to-back home runs from Evan Jaquez and Andrew Sherrell that cut into the lead at 5-4. Lee then tripled to knock Chaffey starter Ian Hoffstetter out of the game.

Hoffstetter pitched four and one-third innings and was charged with five earned runs on eight hits and four walks.

Following the change, Malagon smacked a home run of his own to put Canyons ahead 6-5. The homer was Malagon’s team-leading third of the campaign. However, COC would not score again in the game.

COC sophomore Oscar Patron took the ball in the fourth inning and pitched six innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits and a pair of walks. He struck out five batters and pitched through the ninth inning.

Kyler Freude was the Canyons starter and tossed the first three innings. He was charged with three earned runs on four hits, including two home runs and a walk.

Chaffey eventually retook the lead on a two out, RBI single off reliever Derek Hughes (0-1) in the 10th inning.

Canyons saw the tying run get to second base in the home half off the inning but ended the game on an infield groundout.

Top Performers

Alex Freund, 3-for-4, BB, R, SB

Evan Jaquez, 2-for-5, HR, R, RBI

Jung Jun Lee, 1-for-4, BB, 3B, R, RBI

Frankie Malagon, 1-for-4, BB, HR, R, 3 RBI

Oscar Patron, 6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Andrew Sherrell, 2-for-3, 2 BB, HR, R, RBI

Upcoming Schedule

Canyons remains home to take on Santa Ana College on Saturday, Feb. 15. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

The Cougars will then host Orange Coast College at 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21.

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