Brubaker shuts down Fullerton in opener
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Fullerton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
|
Saddleback | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 3 | 7 | 1 |
The Saddleback baseball team climbed into a tie for first place with a 3-1 win against Fullerton College on Tuesday afternoon at Doug Fritz Field. Tanner Brubaker pitched eight strong innings while the offense received some timely hits.
Saddleback trailed Fullerton by one game in the Orange Empire Conference entering Tuesday and knew the Hornets were going to be a tough battle. Fullerton sent an early message with two hits in the opening inning in taking a 1-0 lead on the Gaucho ace before Saddleback rallied for the win.
Brubaker (pictured right) battled back after a rocky first inning and took control. The UC Irvine commit surrendered just five hits over the next seven innings while striking out five in improving to 7-1 on the season. Fullerton had only two base-runners reach second base after the opening frame, going down in order three times.
Saddleback tied the game in the third inning when Riley Kasper led off the inning with a double to left field and later scored on a ground out. The Gauchos finally took the lead in the fifth inning when Connor Glenn (pictured below) hit a towering home run over the right-center field wall to lead off the inning for a 2-1 advantage. It was Glenn's team-leading fourth home run of the season.
Saddleback added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning when Brett O'Toole singled through the right side of the infield to score Jo-Jo Quintanilla for a 3-1 lead.
Saddleback went to the bullpen in the top of the ninth inning with Brubaker sitting on 108 pitches. They called in Alex Kent, who made quick work of the Hornets for his third save of the season.
Saddleback (19-4, 5-2) and Fullerton (12-10, 5-2) will play again on Wednesday at Fullerton after the game was moved up a day due to the prospects of rain on Thursday. The final game of the series is scheduled for Friday night at 6:00 PM at Doug Fritz Field.
Here's a video recap done by Saddleback College student, Cain Hernandez, and helper Ruben Guzman, from the Lariat Newspaper. GAUCHO RECAP
