All’s well that ends well in baseball opener

The Saddleback baseball team opened the 2015 season with a 6-4 win over Mt. San Jacinto College on Tuesday afternoon at Doug Fritz Field.  The Gauchos trailed 2-1 before rattling off five straight runs in starting the season 1-0.

Saddleback had a shaky start in the opening innings, committing a couple of errors in the field and a base-running miscue in falling behind Mt. San Jacinto 2-1 in the opening innings.    With only eight sophomores on the entire roster, one may want to chalk it up to freshman mistakes and early-season jitters.

The positive was that Saddleback collected them selves and turned things around in time to pick up a win.  The Gauchos struck for two runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth in turning a one-run deficit into a 6-2 lead. 

Colby Schultz and Dylan Diaz opened the bottom of the fifth inning with back-to-back singles before consecutive wild pitches by Zevon Benoit would allow Schultz to score the tying run and Diaz to advance to third with no outs in the inning.  Cole Stanton then singled to right-center field and the Gauchos had a 3-2 lead they would never relinquish.

The bottom of the sixth inning would start the same way as Casey Worden and Alex King had singles to start the inning.  Benoit would again throw a wild pitch with Dallas Dey at the plate, scoring Worden and advancing King to second base.  Things would turn from bad to worse for Benoit, who then allowed a single to Dey before yet another wild pitch would allow King to score for a 5-2 lead.  Diaz then singled to put runners at the corners with one out in the inning.  The roof would cave in for Benoit when shortstop Richard Higginbotham booted a ball, allowing Dey to score and sending him to the showers on the wrong side of a 6-2 deficit.

Saddleback started Domnique Key on the mound and didn't give him much help, committing two costly errors in falling behind 2-1.  Key would leave after three innings, giving way to Cameron Aufderheide (pictured).  The freshman from Trabuco Hills looked solid, pitching five innings in picking up his first win of his college career.  Aufderheide surrendered three hits and struck out three while walking none, leaving with a four-run lead.  Trevor Charpie came in to close the door in the top of the ninth inning for his first save of the season.

Saddleback will try to make it two in a row to start the season when it travels to San Diego City College on Friday.  The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 PM.