Brashear brilliance for the Gauchos against MSJC

Saddleback is off to a tremendous start to the 2013 baseball season, starting out 3-0 after a 16-0 drubbing of Mt. San Jacinto College on Tuesday afternoon at Doug Fritz Field.  The Gauchos received a brilliant performance on the mound from Tyler Brashears, who stifled the Eagles for six innings while the offense was putting up big numbers of their own.

Brashears (pictured) was making his first career collegiate start on Tuesday and made it count.  He surrendered just two hits while striking out five as the Gauchos built a commanding 12-0 lead before his departure.  Brashears had a no hitter going into the fifth inning before it was broken up with two outs on a single to right field by Kyle Mead.  He would later give up another single in the sixth inning, but was never in jeopardy of allowing a base-runner to cross the plate.

Meanwhile, things just keep rolling along for the offense as they have now tallied 41 runs in three games.  Once again, Josh Fuentes was one of the stars on offense, picking up three hits in five at-bats while adding three RBI to his season total.  He is now 7-for-13 to start the season, leading Saddleback with seven RBI and three stolen bases. 

The Gauchos wasted no time in taking the lead, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning on four hits.  They added four more in the fourth inning, three in the fifth, two in the sixth and four more in the seventh as Mt. San Jacinto had no answers on the mound.  The Eagles coupled their problems by committing four errors in the game, allowing three unearned runs. 

Saddleback turned the ball over to Eric Diomartich in the seventh inning and after a walk to start the inning, Diomartich proceeded to strike out the next three hitters in the Mt. San Jacinto lineup.  Christian Stubbs and Seth Pedersen also pitched an inning of relief, allowing a walk and a hit respectively.

In addition to Fuentes; Eric Ehlow, Noah Graham and Brian Romero all added two hits apiece as the Gauchos finished with 16 hits on the afternoon. 

The 3-0 start is the best start to a season since Saddleback started 5-0 back in 2007.  The Gauchos will look to continue the hot streak on Thursday when they host Compton College.  First pitch is set for 5:00 pm.