The Glendale Vaqueros (13-11, 17-19) ended their baseball season by beating Pierce College and knocking them out of the play-offs after losing to them just two days before.

The Vaqueros put on a strong pitching performance from Williams Spottiswood, who pitched seven strong innings, and notched his fifth win of the season.

Pierce came out swinging in the first inning, getting the first run of the game. Spottiswood, however, cooled down and only gave up another run the rest of the game.

Spottiswood said: “We played through some tough situations. The team fought well, and I got enough support from the hitting.”

The Vaqueros took the lead in the second inning and never looked back. They reached a base in every inning except in the bottom of the first when the Vaquero hitters went down 1-2-3. Milton Adolph, D.J. Milonas, Chris Oliver and Rene Gonzalez each had two hits in the game.

“The hitting was good,” said right fielder Milton Adolph. “We had some key hits and did what we had to do to win the game.”

Overall, the Vaqueros put forward a good effort. Even though they knew they had no chance to make the play-offs, preventing Pierce from making it was in the back of their minds. The team will now go into the off-season looking forward to next season.

“I am extremely excited about the way we played this season,” said Coach Chris Cicuto. “I am pleased with the way the players ended the season and we are all looking forward to next year.”

He should be pleased with the Vaqueros who, after starting the season 4-7, went on a 7-game winning streak and won nine of their last eleven games. However, that was after their 7-game losing streak.

The team hopes to avoid long losing streaks and go on more winning streaks as they hope to get back into the play-offs next year. With most of the players returning, the Vaqueros should be more experienced and will play better due to their good chemistry on the field.

With the strong pitching they get from Spottiswood and the solid hitting up and down the lineup, the team is a favorite expected to go far next year.

The Vaqueros have not had great success since 2001 when they won their third Western State Conference title, setting a school record in wins, only to break the record again the following year.

The Vaqueros did this with dominant offense, something the team hopes to have next season.

Even with key players returning, the team is still hoping to get new recruitments.

A baseball player should love coming to GCC because of the great talent on the team and the goal of the coaches, to have a 100 percent transfer rate for all sophomores transferring to 4-year Universities.

Next season, Stengel Field is going to have worthy contenders playing on its grass and all 1,500 seats should be filled.