Baseball comes up short in state tourney run

Baseball can be a game of inches and with an occasional bad break here and there can often leave you in frustration.  The Gauchos experienced that heartache on Saturday, dropping two close games in the Southern California Super Regional in finishing the season 28-13.

Saddleback opened the day looking like a team on a mission, up 1-0 heading to the fifth inning against Mt. San Antonio College with their pitcher throwing a no-hitter.  After retiring the first two Mounties in the fifth, everything changed as the next six Mt. SAC batters all reached base with four of them scoring, replacing the positive momentum with frustration.  The Gauchos wouldn't get the momentum back until the bottom of the ninth when they scored two runs to close the gap to one, but a controversial call on a line drive to left field stifled their comeback bid and threw them into an elimination game after an hour of rest.   The loss thwarted a sensational day by Josh Fuentes, who finished 5-for-5 at the plate with three RBI. 

Saddleback was unable to shake off the disappointment in the late game, falling to rival Cypress College 6-4.  The Gauchos had defeated Cypress three times during the regular season, but it was the fourth game against the Chargers that mattered most and the Chargers turned a 2-0 Saddleback lead into a 4-2 lead of their own with four runs in the second inning.  The Gauchos went down quietly in the next four innings as Cypress built a 6-2 lead.  Saddleback then struck for two runs in the 7^th inning to narrow the gap to 6-4, but was unable to muster any more offense the rest of the way as the Chargers ceased the moment.

Saddleback finished the season 28-13 with the two losses.  Cypress moves on to play Mt. San Antonio on Sunday, needing to win two games to advance to the state tournament.