No. 23 Canyons Falls to No. 2 Palomar in Opening Round Playoff Series

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director

SAN MARCOS — No. 23 College of the Canyons saw its season come to a close at the hands of No. 2 Palomar College, suffering a two-game sweep in its 3C2A Southern California Regional playoff series over the weekend.

Canyons (20-22) had been competing in the postseason for a third straight year after finishing the regular season tied for third in the Western State Conference (WSC), South Division standings. 

The Cougars dropped the first game by a 7-2 score on Friday, before falling 19-1 in Saturday's second game.

In the series opener, Palomar jumped out to a 3-0 third-inning advantage before adding runs in the fourth and five innings to move ahead 5-0. Catcher Makana Olaso's two-run home run in the seventh solidified the Comets position at 7-0.

Canyons got on the board at 7-1 in the eighth inning on an RBI sac-fly from Charlie Rocca. In the eighth, Evan Jaquez' infield groundout allowed Jayden Steinhurst to score for the Cougars' final run. 

COC starter Joseph Jasso (6-5) suffered the loss after allowing seven runs, six earned, on seven hits, including the home run, and a pair of walks. He struck out three batters in the game. Luke Lemmond pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

In game two, the Cougars trailed 12-0 through three innings thanks in large part to a seven-run second inning posted by the Comets which chased COC starter Oscar Patron (2-7) from the game after just 1 and 1/3 innings of work. 

That forced COC head coach Chris Cota to turn to his bullpen in the early going. Canyons used seven relievers in the game with varying success. Sophomore Harish Balachondron was the most effective with 1 and 2/3 innings of scoreless work, striking out two.

COC's only run came on a solo home run by Steinhurst in the fourth inning. The Cougars were limited to just five hits in the contest.

The Comets' lineup featured six players with multi-RBI efforts while recording eight extra-base hits.

Palomar (32-9) will now move on to host No. 11 Cuesta College (32-11) and No. 7 Mt. San Antonio College (29-13) in the double-elimination Super Regional Round beginning Thursday, May 9.

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 X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.