Pitcher Angel Rodriguez helped GCC win a 5-1 victory on Tuesday night against Bakersfield College in Stengel Field, earning his division best sixth win of the season.
Rodriguez obtained six strikeouts in six innings.
“I’m glad I was able to compete with the pitches that I had, but my teammates really picked me up today,” Rodriguez said.
Vaquero outfielder Edgar Montes captured the first run of the game during the bottom of the second. After his run, bases were loaded, but batter Chris Whitmer popped out to end the inning.
“There were some tough innings and we left some guys on base,” head coach Chris Cicuto said. “We didn’t get that big hit, so that was kind of a big deal right there.”
During the bottom of the third inning, GCC was called out for illegal bat usage.
Cicuto said it was a mistake and takes responsibility for the uncertified bat, which became uncertified this year.
At the top of the fourth inning, Vaquero shortstop Eddie Munoz turned a 4-6-3 double play.
“He stepped up and did an unbelievable job for us at the plate and defensively, so I was pretty excited for Eddie’s performance today,” Cicuto said.
In the bottom of the fourth, Montes stole second base and secured GCC’s second run after a sacrifice bunt from Munoz, giving the Vaqueros a 2-0 lead.
GCC was shutout in the fifth inning when Bakersfield’s pitcher Justin Kelly struck out the side.
“Bakersfield got a heck of a pitching staff, so you got to tip your cap to those guys as well,” Cicuto said.
In the sixth inning, the Bakerfield’s outfielder Kyle Nixon hit a double to center field and was brought in by Justin Martinez with a double of his own, resulting in an exciting play at the plate, giving the Renegades its only run of the game.
Glendale scored three more runs in the bottom of the sixth, and held on to win the game 5-1, and secured its first place position.
“It was a very big game today,” Cicuto said. “We’re one step closer to getting one of our goals this year. We’ll enjoy tonight and we’ll get to the next.”
The Vaqueros leads its conference with a 16-3 record and an overall record of 22-9.
