Rough first frame foils day for GCC

VALLEY GLEN — For the Glendale Community College baseball team, the bottom half of the first inning of Saturday afternoon’s Western State Conference tilt with L.A. Valley College would prove to foreshadow the rest of a forgettable game.

The Vaqueros walked two and hit another two Monarch batters in the first, while giving up two runs on a triple off the bat of Valley’s Chris Viltz that was misplayed in the outfield.

At the end of the day, the number of free passes had tripled to 12 and the defensive miscues piled on in a 6-3 loss to host and defending conference champion Valley College, which needed all the help, considering its batters managed just two hits.

“That’s not going to win a game,” Glendale Coach Chris Cicuto said of the double-digit walks and hit batters from starting pitcher Thomas Korn and reliever Michael Noteware. “We just played terrible baseball today.”

And of the triple that was misread by Glendale’s right fielder, Cicuto said it set the tone for an entire day that saw Valley score three of its runs on two hits. The rest of the runs came on an error in the third inning and a hit batter with the bases loaded in the sixth.

Glendale’s offense answered back in the second with two runs, and scattered nine hits for the game, but couldn’t overcome errors such as the one in the third inning where Glendale’s Sako Chapjian dropped what would have been the third out on a force at second.

The Monarchs (8-17) scored two runs on the error, giving them a 5-2 advantage.

“We weren’t getting the timely hits even after they gave us the opportunities, so that error came at a critical time,” Monarchs Coach Dave Mallas said.

Glendale (15-11, 6-7 in conference) didn’t score again until the eighth inning, where Glendale’s leading hitter, Chapjian, singled with one out and later came home on a single off the bat of catcher Myles Neimeyer. It was in the same inning, however, that saw Glendale leave two on base with the tying run, Nick Bozeman, at the plate.

Korn (4-1) pitched three innings, giving up three earned runs, while striking out four.

His counterpart, Chase Munoz, pitched seven strong, giving up two runs and allowing six of Glendale’s nine hits.

The Monarchs have won five of their last six, including two straight over the Vaqueros.

“They’re playing well,” said Cicuto, who is in his seventh year at the helm. “I tip my hat to Mallas.

“They’re trying to win, and we’re trying not to lose. There’s too much pressure in that case, you can’t relax and the game controls you instead of you controlling the game.”

The Vaqueros will look to get back to .500 in conference play as they take on the College of the Canyons on Tuesday.