Virginia Peninsula Community College unveiled its new athletics website last week. It’s still a work in progress with sports, stories, schedules and stats being added almost every day. The goal is to create a better avenue to inform fans of what is going on with the Gators athletic programs.
The company behind the new site, PrestoSports, works with college and athletics organizations throughout the country to provide a sports entertainment platform to engage fans with their favorite teams.
Forthe new website, visit https://virginapeninsulacc.prestosports.com/landing/index.
Track and field
The first meet in program history is in the books, with each of its six members competing in the Virginia Beach Spring Break Invitational at Virginia Wesleyan University on March 15-16.
Josiah Selby was fourth in discus with a throw of 38.02 meters, and Andrew Garner was sixth at 30.94. The two swapped places in the shot put, with Garner fourth (10.68 meters) and Selby sixth (10.41).
Zach Baumgartl placed fourth in the 5000 meters (20:39.56) and sixth in the 1500 (4:59.36).
Kennedy Taylor was 21st (28.51) and Joshua Rivera 22nd (31.27) in the 200 meters. Rivera posted a time of 14.55 in the prelims of the 100 meters.
Cinthya Bates was second in the 5000 meters with a time of 35:10.08.
The team has three meets left: April 5-6 at Norfolk State, April 19-20 at CNU, and April 27 at Virginia State University.
Baseball
The Gators (5-20) snapped an 11-game losing streak in emphatic fashion, as five pitchers held Chowan’s junior varsity team hitless in a 17-1 victory March 13.
Liam Nugent started on the mound for the Gators and went two innings, striking out six. He gave up one unearned run. He was followed by William Bennett, who also threw two hitless innings. Cody Myers, Kaden Hunley and Devin Romero each pitched one inning. Hunley and Romero had two strikeouts apiece.
Tyler Stobbs led the offense, with three hits. Brandon Drewery had two. Jayden Alvarez and Brendan Walker drove in two runs each, and Walker also scored four times. Eight players had at least one hit, and 10 scored at least one run.
They couldn’t carry that momentum into the weekend, losing a three-game series to Paul D. Camp by the scores of 7-4, 2-0 and 6-3.
In the first game of a doubleheader March 16, the Gators cut a four-run deficit in half with two runs in the sixth inning, but the hosts scored twice in the bottom half en route to the win. Alvarez, Isaiah Bracy, Marco Fernandez each had two hits, and Bracy scored twice.
The second game also was a close affair, with Camp scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth innings for the win. Alvarez had another two-hit game. Hunley started and pitched six innings, giving up six hits and one earned run. He struck out three.
On Sunday, the Gators outhit Camp 10-7 but couldn’t outscore the visitors. On offense, Stobbs and Caleb Gonzales each had a pair of hits, and Bracy drove in two runs. Logan Contreraz turned in a strong start, going six innings and giving up just two hits and one earned run. Camp scored three times in the top of the ninth for the win.
This week, the Gators play Virginia State at Heritage High School on Wednesday at 6 p.m., They have a three-game weekend home series against Surry Community College (Dobson, N.C.) with a doubleheader Saturday (1 p.m. start at Heritage) and a single game Sunday (noon start at War Memorial).
For more information on VPCC and its athletics programs, visit www.vpcc.edu.