BLACKWELL HITS WALK-OFF AS MARAUDERS END GLENDALE'S 18-GAME CONFERENCE WIN STREAK. 

PHOTOS by Byron Devers

AVC Baseball brought an end to Glendale College's 18-game conference win streak with a dramatic 11-10 victory on Tuesday.

After falling behind 4-0 early, the Marauders woke up offensively in the 4th inning when William Joseph hit a 2-RBI single to score Ariv Camacho and Zach Terry. Nathan Duarte then gave Antelope Valley a 1-point lead with a 3-RBI home run, his third of the season. The Vaqueros came back to take the lead 7-5 after scoring 3 runs in the 6th. But AVC answered with a run in the bottom of the inning to pull within a run. 

Glendale stretched the lead to 10-6 after scoring a run in the 8th inning and two in the 9th. Down to their final 3 outs, the Marauders went a run in the bottom of the 9th to take the win. William Joseph reached first on an error, and Terry scored to make it 10-7. Nathan Duarte made it 10-9 with a 2-RBI single, scoring Joseph and Nate Scott. Duarte finished 3-for-4 with 5 RBI and scored three times.

Down a run with two outs and the bases loaded, Julian Blackwell came in to pinch-hit. With 2 strikes on him, Blackwell launched a game-winning hit into the left-center gap to score pinch-runner Zach Johnson and Duarte. Blackwell finished 1-for-1 with 2 RBI, while William Joseph ended with 3 RBI and a hit.

"Our ability to stay poised and come back in games is uncanny. The culture that our guys have built this year will resonate down to future teams. We clinched a winning season with this game today and I'm proud of that," said head coach Bryan Moses. "We knew limiting free bases was going to be important. Toledo started the trend of throwing strikes and the bullpen followed suit," added assistant coach Bennett Schiltz 

AVC improved to 20-16 overall and 9-10 in conference. Game 2 of the series is at Glendale on 4/28, and the third game returns to AVC on 4/29.