College of the Canyons battled with visiting Cosumnes River College for the better part of 12 innings on Saturday, before Frankie Malagon delivered a pinch-hit, RBI-sacrifice fly that put the Cougars ahead 2-1 and gave head coach Chris Cota his 500th career win. | ORIGINAL RELEASE
With one away, back-to-back base hits from Colin Yeaman and Charlie Rocca but Canyons in striking distance before Angelo Aleman walked to load the bases. Malagon's ball was then lifted into foul territory near the left field line. When the Cosumnes outfielder completed the catch for the second out Yeaman alertly came sprinting home to give Canyons the historic walk-off win.
The Cougars' dugout burst onto the field with Yeaman and Malagon mobbed during a vivacious infield celebration. Cota's milestone victory brought an added layer of jubilation to the scene with the longtime skipper getting unknowingly doused with a water cooler in the moments that followed.
"I had no idea that (the players) knew," said Cota, who himself only realized the milestone was in reach the night before. "That darn water over there was cold and I had zero idea. I thought we were getting the team together for a picture."
Yeaman played a key role in the win with the sophomore shortstop also tying the game at 1-1 with an RBI single in the seventh inning. That extra-base hit, his sixth of the season, brought in Domenik Cervantes who walked to lead off the inning.
The two sides were scoreless until Cosumnes pushed across an unearned run, aided by an outfield error, in the fifth inning to move ahead 1-0
COC starter Oscar Patron pitched the first seven innings, allowing three hits with three walks and five strikeouts in another strong outing for the freshman out of John F. Kennedy High School.
JP Caire and Harish Balachondron both saw action in the top of the eighth but eventually gave way to usual starter Joseph Jasso who Cota turned to in relief. The freshman right-hander came in and promptly struck out the next two batters to preserve the tie and get out of the inning.
Jasso (1-1) went on to pitch the next four innings, eventually earning the win, and ended his day with a season-high nine strikeouts.
"Patron threw a gem," said Cota. "Then getting Jasso out there and punching out two guys with the bases loaded, and what he did for the next five innings. The guy was impressive.
"That's a credit to the pitchers today, and then the offense did just enough," he added.
The victory was the second straight for Canyons (4-3) after knocking off Allan Hancock by a 6-3 score the day before.
"But it took 12 innings to do it," joked Cota about reaching the milestone in such dramatic fashion.
Alongside Cota's 500 victories are five Western State Conference (WSC) championships 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2017) and 10 3C2A Southern California Regional Playoff appearances. In 2023 the Cougars advanced all the way to the Southern California Regional Finals. This is Cota's 24th year/23rd season at the helm.
"I'm not big into those types of numbers, but what it tells me is that I've had some great assistant coaches along the way, and that helped us win games," he added. "It's pretty cool but at the same time that's not the most important thing. You just move on and try to keep winning ballgames."
Cota's 500 career victories are the most in program history.
Among the three head coaches in the Cougar baseball program's storied history, Cota ranks ahead of legendary former head coaches Mike Gillespie (1971-1986/420 victories) and Len Mohney (1987-2000/341 victories).
"It's probably because I've been here longer than them," laughed Cota about his rank on the all-time list.
Cota was a member of the program's 1986 3C2A State Championship team coached by Gillespie in his final season at COC. Len Mohney was an assistant coach under Gillespie before guiding the program for the next 14 seasons. Cota then served as an assistant coach under Mohney for 10 seasons before taking over after the 2000 campaign.
"Mike Gillespie was my coach, my mentor, my good friend, as is Len Mohney," he said. "Those two guys, I respect no one more than those two in baseball. They just didn't coach quite as many years as I did."
Top Performers:
Joseph Jasso —W (1-1), 4.2 IP, 2 H, 9 K
Evan Jaquez — 2-for-4, SAC
Frankie Malagon — RBI (GW pinch-hit sacrifice fly)
Oscar Patron — 7 IP, R, 3 H, 3 BB, 5 K
Colin Yeaman — 2-for-4, 2 BB, 2B, R, RBI
