Giants' Allen becomes 14th baseball coach in state history to reach 700 career wins

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

Jody Allen has joined exclusive company.

College of the Sequoias' baseball coach earned career win No. 700 on March 17, becoming just the 14th coach in California community college history to reach that milestone.

Allen needs five more wins to pass former Orange Coast coach John Altobeli for 13th place on the career wins list, 22 wins to move by ex-Fresno City coach Len Bourdet for 12th place, and 53 wins to pass former Cerritos and Long Beach City coach Ken Gaylord for a spot in the top 10 all-time. Current Fresno City coach Ron Scott is the state's career wins leader with 1,084.

"I'm very grateful and I'm proud of what we've been able to accomplish here," said Allen, who is now 701-477-4 in his 29th season at Sequoias. "But you know what, there were people who accomplished it here before me, too. You've got the Roy Taylor's, the Burt Holt's (both former Sequoias' coaches and members of the CCCBCA Hall of Fame). The program has been established by great baseball people. And I just feel fortunate that I got to come in and be that next step. And you know, there will be somebody after me, and hopefully they take it and do a great job."

Allen was honored for the achievement before the Giants' 5-3 home win over Reedley on March 19 during a ceremony arranged by 24-year team photographer and record keeper Bob Craine. With his family, players, assistant coaches and program supporters gathered around home plate, Craine presented Allen with a custom imprinted bat commemorating the milestone, while his players displayed a sign congratulating Allen on his 700th win.

"I've got respect for not only the coach that he is, but more so the man that he is," said Bo Champlin, a former assistant coach under Allen from 2013-14 who was in attendance for the ceremony. "The longevity reflects on him as a person. Jody gets that, yeah, you are coaching these kids baseball, but you're also coaching them how to become young men. He holds the kids accountable. Accountable in the classroom, and not a lot of coaches do that anymore. They talk the talk but they don't all walk the walk."

A team captain at Fresno State in 1986 for legendary former Bulldogs coach Bob Bennett, Allen launched his community college coaching career as an assistant to Jack Hacker at the then Kings River Community College in 1987. After three seasons in Reedley, Allen came to Sequoias in 1990 as an assistant to Al Branco.

Since being named Sequoias' head coach in 1994, Allen has directed the Giants to five conference titles, seven seasons of at least 30 wins, 14 playoff appearances and two trips to the state final four.

"I just think COS has been a great place to work. I've had a lot of really good support over the years, especially where we're at now with the administration and what they are doing," Allen said. "It's a team effort. If you don't have assistant coaches, you don't have players, you don't have administration, you don't have a beautiful ballpark, and yeah, you kind of lead that and you hope you lead it in the right direction. But without the support of all those players, and all that staff and all that, you really aren't able to achieve that. And you know what, I've seen a lot of good coaches come and go. I've seen a lot of good coaches in other places, and they don't have what we have here."

Allen credits his players' hard work -- on the field and academically -- for his success. 

"It says a lot for a lot of really good players," Allen said. "You hope what you are doing is developing young men. Wins take care of themselves if you take care of business. We try and teach the game right. We try to make sure they take care of business in the classroom. What happens is hopefully a byproduct of people being productive. Most of them are going to end up working for a living, and if they learn to work out here, hopefully it helps."

The Giants gave Allen win No. 700 with a gritty 8-6 victory at Reedley on March 17 that snapped a three-game losing skid.

Sequoias took the lead and gave it up four times before Jackson Brooks (Exeter High) hit a two-out triple that brought home Jimmy Wallace (Showlow, Ariz.) and Tyler Kiggens (Washington Union-Easton) with the go-ahead runs in the top of the ninth inning. J.T. Friesen (Immanuel-Reedley) pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth to close it out.

The Giants (15-11 overall, 7-5 Central Valley Conference) made it two straight victories by following Allen's 700th celebration with a 5-3 win over Reedley on March 19.

Sequoias led 3-0 through six innings -- getting a scoreless four-inning start from Tyce Ochs (Golden West) -- before Reedley rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh.

But Brooks coaxed a bases-loaded walk and Lee Trevino (Redwood) followed with a sacrifice fly as the Giants re-took the lead in the bottom of the seventh.

Rider Hartman (El Diamante) pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Friesen did the same in the ninth -- both aided by double-play grounders -- to help Sequoias hold on. Hartman earned his first win of the season while Friesen notched his sixth save.

"It was a huge week for us," Allen said. "We're going to try and get some momentum and get this thing rolling."

The Giants will be idle for a total of 10 days before resuming conference play at 2 p.m. March 29 against visiting West Hills-Coalinga (9-15, 4-6). 

Sequoias trails CVC-leading Fresno City (15-5, 7-1) by four games and second-place Merced (15-8, 7-3) by two games heading into the second half of conference play. The Giants have four games to play against Fresno City (April 5, 7, 9 and 21) and one against Merced (April 26).

The Giants won the CVC championship last season, going 20-4 against the four teams (Fresno City, Merced, Reedley and Taft) that elected to play after Covid-19 restrictions eased. The state playoffs were canceled in 2021 because of pandemic safety precautions.