Glendale Community College baseball loses round one of WSC title series to Canyons
Headed into Tuesday, three games remained in the regular season, with the Glendale Community College baseball team facing College of the Canyons with the Western State Conference Eastern Division title in the balance.
In the first showdown, the visiting Cougars flexed their muscles in the 10th inning, powering Canyons to a 3-1 win over the Vaqueros at Stengel Field Tuesday afternoon.
The win means the Cougars take over first place from the Vaqueros in the WSC East by half a game with two left to play.“That is kind of how it is supposed to be [with] two quality clubs,” said Cicuto, who has already secured his second 30-win season in his 14-year tenure. “We’ve got an opportunity to come back and get after it Thursday and Friday and do what [we’ve] got to do.”
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The contest was knotted at 1 after nine innings when Canyons (26-11, 16-2 in the WSC East) came up with two consecutive extra-base hits to start the 10th, surging the No. 8 ranked team in the California Community College Baseball Coaches Assn. poll back into the lead.Cougar Cole Kleszcz led off with a double into the left-field corner for his third extra-base hit of the game. Anthony Medina followed and sent a ball deep into right-center field that struck the base of the scoreboard for what the umpires decided after conferring with each other was a two-run home run.
In the bottom of the frame, Glendale High product Thad Wilson led off with a single for Glendale (31-6-1, 15-2-1 in the WSC East). Three batters and one walk later, Vaquero Troy Viola came to the plate as the winning run with two out, but was unable to produce any heroics as he hit a flyball to end the contest. It was the 16th flyball out of the contest for the Vaqueros, who came in ranked No. 5 in the CCCBA poll.
Glendale is looking to win its third straight conference title and sixth in seven seasons. Last year, GCC won the three-game series over COC, 2-1, with all three games decided by one run.
Kleszcz was dynamic at the plate throughout. The freshman put the first run of the game on the board with a home run. The third-inning blast came off of Glendale starting pitcher Marco Quintanar and sailed over the fence in left-center field. It was Klezcz’ 16th roundtripper of the year, which leads the state. Kleszcz finished three for four at the plate with two doubles, the home run, a walk and two runs scored.
Glendale got the equalizer in the bottom of the sixth inning with an assist from Canyons. Vaquero Matt Colomes notched a one-out double that was just fair down the left-field line. The sophomore scored one batter later, when the COC second baseman Freddie Garcia misplayed a ground ball off the bat of Cristian Montes, allowing Colomes to come home.
Glendale finished with seven hits, with Colomes as the only Vaquero to have two. He finished two of four with the double, a single, the run scored and a walk. Montes had the only other extra-base knock for the Vaqueros, swatting a double in the sixth inning.
“It was a tough one,” Colomes said. “It is a big series. [Canyons is] second in the conference with us. It is a hard loss. Whoever wins this series is going to win the conference, so it is just tough to see them walk away with a ‘W,’ especially at home.”
Quintanar went 6 1/3 innings, striking out five before giving way to James Giambalvo, who pitched the next 2 2/3 innings. He allowed one hit and picked off a base runner for the first out of the ninth inning after Cougar Wes Felber had reached on a controversial call at first base following a high throw and attempted tag.
Canyons’ Connor Dreyer got the win in relief. Canyons starter Jacob Lopez, who is also a lefty like Quintanar, had a strong outing, going eight innings while recording six strikeouts.
“[Dreyer] attacked us well,” Colomes said. “He had a good bite to that fastball. It went away to the arm side, really nasty.”
The loss ended Glendale’s 11-game win streak and 18-game unbeaten streak.
“We haven’t lost in so long,” Cicuto said. “Last time we lost was 18 games ago, so for us to overcome this mentally will be kind of a challenge.”
The series will now shift to the College of the Canyons, where the Cougars will play host on Thursday, now in the driver’s seat. The final game of the series and the regular season will be back at Stengel Field on Friday.