Huge rally propels Glendale Community College baseball to division victory against Canyons

GLENDALE — Things looked bleak for the Glendale Community College baseball team during a first-place showdown in the Western State Conference South Division against rival College of the Canyons on Tuesday.

The Vaqueros trailed by eight runs midway through an exhausting and emotional four-hour contest and it looked like their one-game lead over Canyons in the standings would evaporate.

Not quite.

Cristian Montes singled to deep right with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth to propel Glendale to a thrilling 10-9 win at Stengel Field.

Jared Akins tied the contest at 9 in the eighth with a three-run home run.

Glendale (24-7, 13-3 in the division) will take a two-game advantage and momentum into Thursday’s rematch at Canyons (24-7, 11-5). The teams will meet in the series finale Saturday at Stengel.

“It’s an incredible win, probably our biggest of the season,” said Montes, who lined a 1-0 pitch over the drawn-in outfield before being greeted by his excited teammates between first and second base. “I looked for a pitch middle and away to hit and I got something I could handle.

“It’s a great comeback and we felt like we had plenty of chances ahead when we were down [9-1] in the fifth inning to make a comeback. We have to try to keep it going in the next game.”

Akins hit a three-run home run to right knot it at 9 with one out in the eighth inning. The Vaqueros, who won the division title last season and are ranked fourth in the latest California Community College Athletic Assn. Southern California poll, looked refreshed after Akins’ home run.

“We gave ourselves a chance in those last few innings,” said Akins, who finished with three hits and five runs batted in. “We just kept scoring and we didn’t give up.

“We have a dangerous lineup. I got a slider to hit earlier in the at-bat that I fouled off and I saw the same pitch a little later. I put a good swing in there.”

Canyons, ranked third in Southern California, looked to regroup in the ninth following Akins’ heroics. The Cougars got the first two batters on base via walks by reliever Joey Torres (Crescenta Valley High). Torres got the next out before Marco Quintanar got the final two outs. Quintanar was the eighth pitcher used by the Vaqueros.

“[Canyons] has some great players over there and they’ll come back with their sticks on Thursday,” said Glendale Coach Chris Cicuto, whose team had 15 hits. “I just liked the way we stayed with it. Marco got those two huge outs in the ninth and I think that carried over to the bottom of the ninth.

“Jared hits the home run and then Cristian gets the big hit to win it. It’s a definite confidence boost, but there’s more work to be done starting Thursday.”

Canyons held a 3-0 after the first inning, capped on a two-run home run by Anthony Lepre. The Cougars extended their lead to 7-0 in the second, which included a two-run home run by Chad Bible.

John Malott scored on a throwing error by the catcher to pull Glendale to within 7-1 in the second before Canyons scored twice in the fifth to grab a seemingly insurmountable 9-1 advantage.

A two-run double by Akins made it 9-3 in the fifth.

Kamalu Neal of Glendale had a run-scoring double in the sixth to make it 9-4.

Run-scoring singles by Mondo Rodriguez and Ricky Perez sliced the deficit to 9-6 in the seventh.

“It’s just about staying positive and we were able to do that,” said Montes, who had two hits.

Glendale received two hits from Perez, Neal, Rodriguez and Liam Shibata.

Lepre paced the Cougars with three hits.

Glendale competed without Frank Garriola and Troy Mulcahey (Crescenta Valley). Garriola served a one-game suspension after being ejected from Saturday’s game against L.A. Valley. Mulcahey suffered a fractured left wrist Thursday against Valley and it’s unknown if he will return to action. Mulcahey has a team-high 12 home runs.