Rain soaked not only the field, but also the Glendale offense during a 7-2 loss to L.A. Valley College on March 15 at Stengel Field. The loss drops the Vaqs (9-12, 5-6 in conference) to fourth in the conference.
The Vaqs were led on offense by freshman Michael Mendoza, who went 2 for 2 with one RBI, two walks, and a stolen base, and sophomore Bryan Jackson who went 3 for 4. The rest of the Vaqs were only able to muster two hits and an RBI.

Freshman pitcher Andrew Sember, who was making a spot start for the Vaqs, looked solid early on but only lasted four innings. Sember gave up one run on four hits with one strikeout.

“He [Sember] did an awesome job,” said coach Chris Cicuto.

The losing pitcher for the Vaqs was freshman Patrick Vandehey who struggled during his 1 1-3 innings of work. Vandehey gave up five runs on just two hits. He also hit two batters. While neither of the hit batsmen scored, L.A. Valley seemed to feed off the bean balls and used the momentum to score five runs in the sixth.

After getting one out in the sixth, freshman Byron Pacheco came in from the bullpen for Vandehey and immediately made Pacheco’s presence felt by hitting the first batter. He was, however, able to settle down and turned in a nice performance, finishing the game by throwing the final 3 2-3 innings. Pacheco allowed one run on three hits with a team high of three strikeouts.

“We just lost our energy, that’s it,” Cicuto said.

No Vaq pitcher was able to come close to the performance put on by Valley pitcher sophomore Drew Vassil. Vassil was able to come back from a two run first inning to throw a complete game allowing just the two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

Valley also received a shot from freshman Eddie Urquiza who went 2 for 4 with a double two RBIs and a run scored.

The rain came in the sixth just as Valley was finishing their big rally to take the lead in the game. On more than one (rain) occasion the umpires came close to calling the game, however, the game was completed just as the sun came back out.
Maybe the sun is a sign of things to come for the Vaqs.
For information on upcoming games see the Sports Summary or visit www.glendale.edu/athletics