College

Monarchs Baseball - 2024 Western State Conference Champions

April 30, 2024

By Shauna Johnson

Congratulations to the 2024 Western State Conference South Champion Los Angeles Valley College Monarchs Baseball team!

The Monarchs solidified the conference championship on Thursday, April 18, with a 7-1 win over Mission, and Citrus' win over Glendale.  This wasn't the only impressive win the Monarchs took on the march to the title.

During the 2024 season the Monarchs swept six out of seven series.  The Monarchs only loss during came in a rain shortened, six inning game against Glendale College.  

This is head coach Dave Mallas' third Western State Conference title - he led the Monarchs to the championship in 2005, 2010 and now in 2024.

Helping LA Valley Baseball to win the title were these outstanding offensive seasons by individual Monarchs: Tino Valdez led the team batting .544 during conference, he also had 20 runs batted in (RBIs) and seven stolen bases.  Royce Clayton, Jr. led the team with six home runs while batting .395, stealing 16 bases and hitting in 26 runs. Alden Quintanilla hit .415 in the Western State Conference with a .490 on base percentage.  

On the mound, these three Monarchs carried the ballclub to victory: Cole Clark was 4-1 in conference and gave up just four earned runs in seven starts.  Daniel Tovar was perfect going 4-0, striking out 40 in 37 and 2/3 innings.  James Coker was 3-0 in three starts and collected a save during Western State Conference play.

Baseball was rewarded for the excellent season with the number four seed in Southern California.  The Monarchs will host Cypress in the first round of the 3C2A State playoffs in a three game series. Game one will be Friday, May 3 at 2:00 p.m.  Game two will be Saturday, May 4 at 11 a.m., if game three is needed it will also be played on Saturday and will follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of game two.

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