Hancock Baseball Falls 9-4 at College of the Canyons

College of the Canyons erupted for five runs in the seventh inning to hand the Allan Hancock College baseball team a 9-4 loss on Thursday afternoon. The Bulldogs dropped their third in a row, all on the road, to fall to 3-3. Canyons improved to 4-2.

Freshman Ismael Hernandez went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI to lead Hancock's nine-hit attack. He clubbed his first collegiate home run in the top of the first inning to give Hancock an early 1-0 lead.

Canyons scored twice in the fourth against Hancock starting pitcher Nic Cardinal to take a 2-1 lead.

The Bulldogs tied it in the fifth when Cordell Bowie scored when Canyons misplayed a ball off the bat of Reed Odland. Hancock regained the lead in the sixth when Chad Jones singled with the bases loaded to drive in Hernandez and Josh Tonascia to put Hancock ahead 4-2. Brian Dowell was thrown out at the plate on the play.

Canyons rallied to tie it with two runs in the sixth against Cardinal. The sophomore pitcher allowed seven hits, four runs, three of them earned, over six innings of work. He walked two and struck out seven.

Canyons' game-winning rally came against Jesse Gasca. The freshman allowed five runs and five hits in one-third of an inning. Three of the runs were unearned. Phillip Martin threw 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief for the Bulldogs.

The Cougars finished with 13 hits, led by Tyler Erne who went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI.

The Bulldogs will look to get back on track Friday at San Diego Mesa. First pitch will be at 1 p.m. Hancock will close its five-game road trip on Saturday at Rio Hondo.