Schwartzberg to the rescue

The Saddleback baseball team had a walk-off hit from Zachary Schwartzberg in beating Golden West College, 2-1, on Friday at Doug Fritz Field.  The Bobcats moved within two games of first place with the win.

Saddleback and Golden West had an old fashion pitcher's duel on Friday.  The Bobcats and Golden West combined for just three runs in the game with Saddleback pulling out a win in the bottom half of the ninth inning.

Saddleback took a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the fourth inning when Schwartzberg grounded out to shortstop, allowing Isaiah Morales to score the opening run of the game. 

The game remained 1-0 until the top half of the ninth inning when Golden West finally pushed across the tying run.  The Rustlers had threatened to score in a number of innings before finally breaking through when Dylan Taguiam singled home Jack Salmon to even the score.

Saddleback quickly put the pressure back on the Golden West pitching staff in the bottom of the ninth inning when Michael Davinni singled to left-center field to lead off the inning.  Davinni was quickly moved over to second base when Morales laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt.  Golden West quickly called for an intentional walk to Jason Hefft to set up for a potential force out on defense.  It backfired when J.C. Allen hit a grounder to third base that was bobbled, allowing the Bobcats to load the bases.  Schwartzberg then came to the plate and delivered a flare up the middle to win the game. 

Saddleback started Will Girardi on the mound and he pitched 5.2 innings before giving way to the bullpen.  Trevor Eby entered and pitched 2.1 innings before leaving in the top half ninth inning with one runner on base and a 2-0 count on the second batter of the inning.  Blake Butcher then entered and gave up a hit to tie the game, but got the Rustlers to hit into a double-play to keep the game tied at 1-1.  Butcher would pick up the win in relief to improve to 2-2 on the season.  The Saddleback staff spread around nine hits while strikeout four Golden West batters.

Saddleback is now 20-6 overall and 8-3 in Orange Empire Conference play following the win.  The Bobcats picked up a game on Riverside City College after the Tigers dropped their first OEC game of the season at Cypress College on Friday (6-9).  Saddleback and Golden West will finish the three-game series on Sunday at Golden West after the game on Thursday was moved to Sunday due to wet field conditions at GWC.  The first pitch is scheduled for 12:00 PM in Huntington Beach.