The Virginia Peninsula Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams suffered losses two days apart, ending their respective seasons.
The men’s season wrapped up with an 84-77 loss to Mountain Gateway Community College in the quarterfinals of the Region X tournament Feb. 25-28 at Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst, N.C. The Gators (7-14), who earned the fifth seed in the tournament, led 48-46 at halftime but couldn’t hang on. The fourth seed Roadrunners outscored the Gators 38-29 in the second half.
Women’s basketball
The women finished their season with a 73-56 loss at Patrick & Henry Community College on Sunday, Feb. 25.
The Gators (5-6), who had defeated P&H 74-73 at home on Feb. 10, couldn’t repeat the outcome.
Baseball
The baseball team had a tough week, getting swept by Caldwell Community College in a three-game weekend series, and losing a midweek game to Bryant & Stratton.
Against Caldwell, the Gators dropped a doubleheader Saturday, Feb. 24, followed by a single-game setback the following day.
In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Gators fell behind 9-2 after five innings, but closed to 9-7 in the seventh before eventually losing 14-8 to the Cobras. Marco Fernandez hit a two-run homer in the fourth, and Tyler Stobbs added a grand slam in the seventh. Caleb Gonzales was the only Gator with two hits.
In the second game, the Gators scored their lone run in the top of the first, but the hosts answered with three in the second and two in the third en route to a 6-1 win. Neo Klemish had two hits, and Fernandez drove in the only run with a sacrifice fly. Reliever Garett Hedgepeth kept the game close in the middle innings, throwing two hitless innings by retiring all six batters he faced.
The weekend ended with a 13-1 loss to Caldwell as the Gators managed only four hits and fell behind 10-0 after two innings.
Against Bryant & Stratton on Feb. 20, the Gators trailed 9-3 after seven innings, tied the game with a six-run ninth inning, but gave up a run in the bottom half to lose 10-9. Klemish was the only Gator with two hits, and Stobbs was the only one who drove in two runs.
In the top of the ninth, the Gators scored two runs on a Stobbs double, one on a single by Brandon Drewry, and three on errors. The Gators’ bullpen kept the game close, giving up just four runs in 6 1/3 innings.
This week, the Gators (4-10) play at Chowan University on Feb. 29. The nine-inning game starts at noon. They return home March 1 for a 2 p.m. doubleheader against The Apprentice School at War Memorial Stadium and play a DH at Montgomery CC in Rockville, Md., on March 3. First pitch is 11 a.m.
For more information on VPCC and its athletics programs, visit www.vpcc.edu.