Canyons Turns On the Juice

From the onset, College of the Canyons pitcher Kevin Hyde should have realized that, on this day, the Cougar baseball field was no place to hide.

Hyde’s first pitch was deposited over the left-field fence by Glendale’s Gary Havens, starting a 28-run, 32-hit slugfest that had pitchers hurrying for cover for about three hours Tuesday.

Hyde somehow managed to survive a rocky start and the Cougars defeated Glendale, 16-12, in a Western State Conference game that moved Canyons a step closer to its second consecutive Southern Division title.

The Cougars (28-13, 16-8 in WSC play) took a one-game lead over Glendale (26-14, 15-9) in the divisional race with two games to play. Bakersfield is also 16-8 after defeating Pierce, 13-12.

Canyons travels to Mission on Thursday and plays host to Bakersfield on Saturday. Glendale plays at Pierce on Thursday and at home against Mission on Saturday.

The Cougars rebounded after spotting Glendale a 4-0 lead through 1 1/2 innings by scoring seven runs in the second behind Rob Rehfeld’s three-run home run to center field and Hiram Damwijk’s solo shot to almost the identical spot.

All of the runs came against Vaquero ace Shawn Lange (11-3), who lasted until the sixth inning. He yielded nine runs, all earned, on 10 hits and a walk.

“We knew we could score some runs today and we had to,” said Len Mohney, Canyons coach.

The Vaqueros pulled to within 9-7 in the seventh on a two-run home run by designated hitter Jared Sandler.

It was the last of nine hits and seven runs surrendered by Hyde (5-2), who was replaced after finishing the inning. Hyde struck out one and walked two.

“I thought Kevin never got into a rhythm today,” Mohney said. “He might have been just a little too pumped up.”

But just when Glendale was thinking victory, Canyons exploded for seven runs in the seventh to take a 16-7 lead.

The Cougars used four doubles in the inning, including three in a row by Rehfeld, Kasey Canale and Damwijk with two out, to break open the game.

“The difference was that they [Canyons] put runners on base and brought them around,” said Denny Barrett, Glendale’s first-year coach. “We put runners on base and didn’t.”

The Vaqueros stranded 10 runners despite banging 16 hits, including four home runs--Jesse Mitchell hit one in a three-run second inning and Bret Niles smashed one in a four-run eighth--and three doubles.

Canyons had five doubles and three home runs among its 16 hits.

David Soto finished four for four and Kris Yeaman had three hits and three runs batted in. Rehfeld had two hits and four RBIs.

The Vaqueros got three hits each from Freddy Sanchez, Sheldon Philip-Guide and Sandler.