McCartney wins #200

The Saddleback baseball team won for a second straight day at College of the Sequoias on Wednesday, 7-1.  The win was No. 200 for head coach Sommer McCartney.

McCartney started his head coaching career at Saddleback in 2012 after serving as an assistant coach for the Gauchos for more than a decade.  The win moved the Gauchos to 18-17 on the season and came against the No. 10 ranked team in Northern California.

Saddleback took a 3-0 lead in the opening inning and never looked back.  The Gauchos outhit the Giants 13-2 for the day as Saddleback pitching was outstanding.  Trevor Harris (1-0) started on the mound for just the second time this year and was dominant, surrendering only one hit in five innings of work.  He then gave way to Ethan Holt, who gave up just one hit over the final four innings in picking up his first save of the season.

Saddleback opened the scoring when Reed Beverly doubled home Ryan Thibert for a 1-0 lead.  The Gauchos would score two more times in the inning, taking advantage of a Sequoias error. 

Saddleback carried a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning when they scored two more times for a 5-1 lead.  Beverly was again the catalyst, tripling home Riley Kasper before being driven home on a single from Zack Bowman.

Saddleback added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth inning when Willie Lajoie doubled home both Bowman and Chris Demgen.   

Kasper and Bowman led Saddleback with three hits apiece while Beverly and Lajoie both finished with two hits. 

Saddleback will try to sweep Sequoias on Thursday when they play the final game of the three-game set.  The game is scheduled to start at 12:00 PM in Visalia. 

McCartney is now 200-123 lifetime in 7+ years as the head coach at Saddleback.   His 200 wins is second all-time in Saddleback to Jack Hodges (580-362-4), who coached at Saddleback for 22 years from 1990-2011.  His .619 lifetime winning percentage ranks No. 1 in Saddleback history.