El Vaquero

Issue date: 3/30/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Anita K. Marto Pitchers Richard Barrett, Frank Bernard and Ryan Perez during fly ball drills with catcher Ben Torrie and assistant coach David Lopez.

The Vaquero baseball team guided by Coach Chris Cicuto is batting it's way on to WSC victory for the fifth time in GCC history.
The team of 25, only eight of whom are returning sophomores and the rest freshmen, have a 10-14 record in the Western State Conference with only nine games left before the playoffs.

The Vaqueros had been on a 4-0 winning streak at the beginning of the season until Pierce College ended it with a 9-8 victory over them. Two games later, the Vaqueros were once again defeated by Pierce College 11-2. The Vaqueros had been on a 4-0 winning streak at the beginning of the season until Pierce College ended it with a 9-8 victory over them. Two games later, the Vaqueros were once again defeatedby Pierce 11-2. Beating Pierce College seems to be of mutual importance for the enire team, however their game at Pierce on Tuesday proved to be disappointing for the Vaqueros with a 9-1 loss.

"The two top teams in our conference are Pierce and Bakersfield," said freshman pitcher Ryan Perez. "They're usually the team to beat."

The Vaqueros were unsuccessful against Bakersfield the first time they played them on Feb. 21 falling 5-1, but the second time they [Vaqueros] were victorious winning against them 8-6 on March 1.

"If the Vaqueros compete with a sense of urgency all nine innings, I would put my money on the Vaqueros each and every game," said Cicuto.

Perez also mentioned the need to compete for all nine of the innings. For example, during the Feb. 24 Pierce game; the Vaqueros were leading 8-0 until the last half of the ninth inning when Pierce managed to rack up nine points.

The goal of the Vaqueros this year is to win at least 20 games, a mission which has not been accomplished since 2000. In 2006 the Vaqueros were 9-33 in season and in 2005 they were 13-25. They are strong when it comes to speed and defense, but according to Cicuto, in order to break their record they need to work on timely hitting.

Perez said, they [Vaqueros] tend to get too comfortable and relaxed after they start off strong.

"The moment we fall behind we start to panic and make careless decisions, which cost us the game," he said.

Continued...

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