30 Apr Contra Costa College Baseball Season Ends in Defeat

Contra Costa College Comets first-year baseball head coach Khalid Johnson gathers his team for a pep talk after they fell behind by eight runs in the second inning.

Story and photos by Joe Porrello

Playing the final game of their season, Contra Costa College baseball lost 13-9 to Laney College on April 25 in San Pablo.

Bringing their overall record to 28-12, Laney secured the Bay Valley Conference crown over 26-13 Los Medanos College, which has an identical division record. Winning 10 straight to conclude the regular season, the Laney Eagles squeaked by the LMC Mustangs, who were on a 12-game unbeaten streak of their own.

Since last losing almost four weeks ago, Laney has collectively outscored opponents 101-28 and is ranked No. 19 in the California Community College Athletic Association North Region.

CCC, conversely, has the worst overall record (3-32) of all 87 teams in the 3C2A and finished last in the BVC at 1-20. Losing their final 13 games and winning only one the last three months, they came in outscored 171-28 in April.

The Comets’ defeat on the 25th came after four defensive errors and 11 strikeouts at the plate, creating a hole they could not dig themselves out of. Fueling Laney were 14 hits and contributions up and down the lineup, as seven players drove in runs.

The Eagles did not waste time. In 10 plate appearances, they amassed six runs on three singles, a double, two stolen bases, a pair of sacrifice flies and two hit-by-pitches — all before CCC got a chance to bat. The Comets almost got out of it with less damage but missed back-to-back difficult defensive chances and committed an error.

 

Sending eight players to the dish in the second inning, Laney tacked on a pair of runs to make their lead 8-0, but CCC avoided further damage by inducing a fly out with the bases loaded. Freshman Mateo Valadez led off with a triple, and sophomore Casey Leavitt-McGee followed with an RBI single — bringing his team RBI lead to 36. He also paces the Eagles in on base percentage (.497), slugging percentage (.567), extra-base hits (20), doubles (15) and walks (32), and is one of only two players who saw action in all 40 games.

 

After only reaching base once the first two frames, CCC cut their deficit in half during the third, breaking through for four runs. Freshman Kevin Furuta drove in two — bringing his team-leading RBI total to 23 — on his third triple, also a team high. He added another RBI, two singles, a walk and a team-high 20th run. On the season, he also ranks No. 1 for the Comets in batting average (.336), SLG (.466), total bases (61), XBH (12) and doubles (8), and hit the team’s only home run of the year.

Scoring one in the fourth, Laney piled on another three runs the next inning to make the score 12-4, largely thanks to a trio of Comets’ errors. Freshman Siraj Shabazz hit his team’s second leadoff triple and freshman Easton Greene notched his second sacrifice fly to go along with a single, run and walk. Shabazz added a walk, stolen base, single, two runs and three RBIs.

 

The Eagles finished off their scoring with one in the seventh, helped by freshman Jesus Vasquez hitting his second double of the game. He added a pair of singles, a stolen base — bringing his team high to 13 — and three runs — taking his team lead to 47. Vasquez paces Laney in seven categories, including a .412 batting average that is No. 2 in the BVC.

Eagles freshman starting pitcher Nick Fenton followed with his eighth strikeout before surrendering a walk and being pulled. He is first on the team with 84 innings pitched, and fourth in the BVC in strikeouts (58), wins (7) and earned run average (2.93).

 

Once Fenton exited, the Comets erupted for three runs, helped by Laney’s lone error and a two-run single by freshman Jaden Lack, who added another RBI and single along with a double and two runs. Lack led the Comets in 2025 with a .427 OBP and 14 walks.

After plating another couple runs in the ninth, a late CCC rally ended with two runners left on base and a five-run deficit — which seemed small after losing the previous two games against Laney by a combined 24-2.

“We definitely had a tough season, especially toward the end,” said sophomore Nixon Collins-Brown, who came to the Bay Area from Australia three years ago to play baseball and will continue at Simpson University in Redding after earning a scholarship.

 

First-year head coach Khalid Johnson says he expects the Comets to be fired up and take steps forward in their next season.

“There’s a lot of potential. We’re bringing in a bunch of guys to fill in some of the holes we had, and the experience our freshmen got is just going to carry over,” he said. “We’re not happy when teams are celebrating on our field — we want to experience that ourselves and we’ll get there.”

 

Johnson added that he was proud of the way his team stuck together and battled despite falling behind big early — a trait they have displayed throughout the season.

“They were great teammates; they really supported each other all year, which isn’t easy when you’re losing,” he said.

 

It was the Comets’ closest margin in a dozen games, one off their season high in RBIs (9), and more than double their season average of 4.2 runs — last in the 3A2C. However, it was the 19th time CCC had double digits in strikeouts and more than two errors, and close to on par with their team ERA of 11.28.

In total, the Comets allowed over 10 runs 25 times and never surrendered fewer than four.

 

Laney, on the other hand, averaged seven runs per game, had double-digit strikeouts only three times, 14 games without an error, a team ERA ranked No. 9 in the 3C2A at 3.63, and allowed over 10 runs just once.

Eagles sophomore Matthew Orozco leads the BVC with nine wins and is No. 2 with a 2.08 ERA and fellow second-year hurler Alex Gomez is right behind him with an ERA of 2.20 — as well as being second in the BVC with 84 strikeouts. 

The Eagles now prepare for a postseason run starting Friday 2 with a best-of-three series against No. 13 Folsom Lake College. 

“This win definitely gives us good momentum going into the playoffs,” said Laney freshman Caleb Garrison. I think we can go far.”