Story by The Daily Journal

The Cañada Colts ran wild in their seventh straight win Saturday, stealing 12 bases in a 12-1 baseball win over City College of San Francisco in Redwood City.

Kyler Bittner and Carson Vance (Carlmont) each swiped three bases to lead the way. Bittner now leads the Coast Conference North in steals, and ranks fifth in the state, with 24 on the year. Ryan Fernandez (Aragon) and Ethan Payne stole two bases apiece for the Colts, while Chris Arce and Ivan Herrera each stole one.

Sitting in fourth place in the Coast Conference North, Cañada (8-7 Coast North, 20-15 overall) has taken care of business against the bottom of the conference with two straight sweeps. The Colts finished off the second three-game series sweep Saturday, and previously swept last-place De Anza.

Freshman leadoff hitter Max Ross set the tone Saturday, leading off the bottom of the first with a solo home run, his 11th of the year. Cañada went on to score three runs in the first, five in the fourth, three in the sixth and one more in the seventh. Dom Avila (Carlmont) fueled the barrage, going 2 for 4 with a double, a triple and five RBIs.

Freshman starting pitcher Devin Bettencourt earned the win, firing six shutout innings. The right-hander allowed four hits and three walks while striking out seven. It is Bettencourt's third win in his last three starts. His record improves to 6-3.

Sophomore right-hander Connor Uter (Terra Nova) worked two innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out three. Sophomore right-hander Damian Lapuz closed it out with a shutout inning in the ninth.

CCSF starter Junior Madera took the loss in his longest outing of the year, working 3 2/3 innings. Jackson Wood (Hillsdale) paced the Rams with two hits.

Bittner stole all three of his bases in the first. The freshman reached on a single, then stole second and third of his own accord. Vance then got hit by a pitch to put runners at the corners, and the two executed a double steal, with Bittner swiping home for his third steal of the inning. Vance later scored on an infield error to make it 3-0.

In the fourth, Vance led off with a walk and proceeded to steal second and third. After Herrera walked, and stole second, Avila cashed in with a two-run triple. Payne then reached on an infield error while batting in Avila. After walks to Louis Coca and Ross loaded the bases, Bittner singled home Payne. John Paul Avila (Carlmont) then produced a sacrifice fly to make it 8-0.

In the sixth, Dom Avila stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and cleared them with a three-run double. In the seventh, with Fernandez at first and Arce at third, Cañada executed another double steal for their final run of the day.

CCSF (2-13, 8-24) got on the board in the eighth with an RBI double by Miguel Esquivez.

With the win, Cañada now trails third-place College of San Mateo by two games in the Coast North with four to play. The Colts have four singular opponents remaining on its regular-season schedule, with two big road games this week, traveling to first-place Skyline, Tuesday, for a 2:30 p.m. start. Then this coming Saturday, the take on CSM on the Hilltop at 1 p.m.