There is only one word that came to mind after the Vaqueros baseball team lost to Bakersfield College 19-8 on April 12: schizophrenic.
“Our team is schizophrenic,” said head coach Chris Cicuto after the loss.
“We can go to Bakersfield and beat them 10-4 on Tuesday and have opportunity to take three out of four from these guys and just stink it up.”
And stink it up they did. No Vaquero pitcher lasted longer than three innings and all four who appeared gave up at least one run. In fact, Bakersfield scored in all but two innings, including five innings of three or more runs.
The Vaqs looked like they might keep the game close early on, scoring three runs in the first inning. However, until the ninth inning they only managed a single run.
In the ninth inning the Vaqs looked like a completely different team. With most of the starting line up on the bench, the team scored four runs including two solo home runs by sophomore infielder Matthew Magallon and freshman outfielder Matthew Johnson.
Vaqs sophomore Taylor Smale was saddled with the loss after being charged with eight runs including three in the first.
The Vaqs also committed eight errors in the field. “That’s a lack of focus and taking care of your personal responsibility,” said Cicuto.
While there was a lot from the game that the Vaqs would like to forget, there were a few things the team will build on for the rest of the season. Johnson came off the bench to get not only his first hit of the season, but also he recorded his first home run as a member of the Vaqs.
“You can’t be happier for a young man like that who works hard every single day, a guy who deserves to see his hits fall,” said Cicuto. “He does it right every single day. Hopefully our guys can feed off something like that.”
Sophomore Luis Rivas contributed with two hits including a double and led the team with three RBI’s.
“We were bad, we were real bad; it is what it is,” Cicuto said.
The Vaqs look to bounce back from the disappointing loss to finish the last two weeks of the season strong.