Gauchos serve “Meat” to Seahawks

The Saddleback baseball team pulled out a 4-3 win against Los Angeles Harbor College on Monday at Doug Fritz Field.  The Gauchos scored twice in the bottom of the eighth inning to improve to 10-4.

Saddleback trailed 3-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning when they rallied for two runs in winning their fourth straight game.  The big hit came from Demitri Colacchio, who the team has nicknamed "Meat" over the first 14 games of the season.  Despite having one of the slightest frames on the team (6'1, 170), "Meat" muscled one of the biggest hits of the season when he delivered a one-out single through the left side of the infield to score Joseph Canty with the go-ahead run.  It was one of three hits on the day for Colacchio, who now leads all starters with a .400 batting average for the year.  It was his second three-hit game in the past three outings, raising his on-base percentage to .480 for the season.

Saddleback used a committee approach on the mound on Monday as Travis Willis received the start and gave way to a bullpen that included Ethan Holt, Scott Armstrong and Curren Larson.  The Gaucho pitching staff finished with 12 strikeouts for the game, giving them 28 strikeouts over the past two outings.  Larson closed the door on Los Angeles Harbor when he struck out two Seahawks in the top of the ninth inning for his first save of the season.

Saddleback improved to 10-4 overall with the win.  The Gauchos will try to win their fifth game in a row on Tuesday when they host Cuesta College.  Saddleback and Cuesta are scheduled to start at 3:00 PM.