Comets tame Cougars in game one win
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Canyons | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
|
Palomar | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | X | 7 | 9 | 2 |
SAN MARCOS, CA (5/3/2024) -- No. 2 Palomar College and No. 23 College of the Canyons squared off in round one of the 3C2A SoCal Regionals on Friday afternoon and the Comets won 7-2.
Scoreless through two innings, the Comets finally got on the board in the third. Luke Matthews led off with a single and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Ian Halverson then walked to give the Comets two baserunners. Elijah Cook was then hit by a pitch to load them up for Colby Rafail. Rafail recorded a sac fly to give the Comets their first run of the day. Noah Lazuka then had a bases-clearing single to give Palomar a 3-0 lead.
Palomar scored one more in the fourth and fifth on an RBI single by Halverson and an RBI double by Makana Olaso. The final runs for the Comets came off a two-run shot by Olaso in the seventh, his 17th on the season.
The Comet defense held the Cougars scoreless until the eighth when Canyons scored one on a sac fly. In the ninth, the Cougars scored on a ground out. Eric Van Valkenburg pitched 6.0 innings and allowed one hit and struck out a season-high tying eight batters. His record improves to 8-1 on the season. Holden Carpenter came in for two innings and allowed one run on two hits. Evan Langer closed the game with one run on one hit and a strikeout.
The two teams will be back in action tomorrow morning with an 11 a.m. first pitch for game two.