GCC Baseball rallies to beat Canyons 9-8 April 22; Clinches at least a tie for WSC South Title

In the 37th game of the 2023 baseball season and 18th in conference play, the GCC Vaqueros came from behind with three runs in the ninth inning to beat visiting College of the Canyons 9-8 Saturday April 22 at Stengel Field. The win clinched a least a tie for the conference title for Glendale at 16-2 and comes after Glendale beat COC 4-2 April 18 and fell at Canyons 16-15 April 20.

The Vaqs trailed 8-4 in the seventh inning when Nick Sutherlin singled home a run and then scored on a double by Jackson Benattar to make it 8-6. Sutherlin and Benattar continued their late game heroics in the ninth inning when Sutherlin bashed a two-run homer to tie the game at eight all and then Benattar scored the game winner on a wild pitch. Sutherlin and Benattar each had three hits for GCC and Alec Garcia added two. Chris Lozano went four innings as the starter Saturday and Joseph Perez and Maximo Newhart pitched in relief with Newhart getting the win.

In the season ending series, Glendale plays at second-place L.A Valley College Tuesday April 25 at 2:30 pm, plays at GCC's Stengel Field at 2:30 pm Thursday April 27 and concludes the 2023 regular season at Valley Friday April 28 at 2:30 pm. Any win for GCC against Valley will earn them back-to-back WSC Souther Division titles for 2022-23.