Gauchos pull out brooms against Vaqueros

The Saddleback baseball team completed a clean sweep of Santa Barbara City College on Saturday with an 8-7 win.  The Gauchos are now 6-0 on the season.

Saddleback trailed early when Santa Barbara exploded for four runs in the second inning for a 4-0 lead.  The Gauchos responded with four of their own in the bottom of the third inning, turning the tables on a Vaquero team looking for its first win in three days at Doug Fritz Field.

Saddleback had four straight hits to start the third as Brett O'Toole led off with a double and advanced to third on a bunt single by Ulumano Farm.  Brett Auerbach followed with a single to score O'Toole, with Farm moving over to third base.  Auerbach and Farm then pulled off a double steal, with Auerbach stealing second and Farm taking home for the second run of the inning.  Spencer Heinsius followed with a double to left field, driving in Auerbach to close the gap to 4-3.  Two batters later, Adam Gordon brought in Heinsius with a sacrifice fly and the game was tied 4-4.

The game moved into the bottom of the seventh inning with the score tied at 5-5.  Saddleback again responded, scoring three times for an 8-5 lead.  With two runners on base and two outs, Andrew Wilson delivered what would end up being the winning hit when he singled home Heinsius for a 6-5 lead.  It was one of three hits on the day for Wilson, who finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored.  The Gauchos would add two more runs when Theodore Smith doubled home both Gordon and Wilson after a pitching change by Santa Barbara.

Saddleback used seven pitchers in the game in order to grind out the win.  Michael Carr came on to work in the sixth inning in picking up his first win of the season.  Carr pitched 1.1 innings, surrendering one hit while striking out one batter.  Connor Sealey came on in the ninth inning to close the door for his first save of the year.

The Saddleback defense was stellar, completing its first error-less game of the year.  The game ended when the Gauchos completed a 5-4-3 double-play to secure the sweep.

Saddleback is now 6-0 on the season and will have a handful of days off before traveling to Cuesta College for a three-game series with the Cougars.  The opening game is on Thursday at 2:00 PM in San Luis Obispo.