Rees pieces together split against Vaqueros

The Saddleback baseball team earned a split with Santa Barbara City College on Saturday at Doug Fritz Field.  The Vaqueros took game one 8-5 before Jackson Rees lifted the Gauchos to a 7-1 win in game two.

The opening game was a frustrating one for Saddleback, as everything Santa Barbara hit found an open spot on the field.  The Gauchos rallied from a 7-0 deficit but ran out of at-bats in losing their first game of the year.  The Vaqueros didn't hit the ball very hard, but managed to find open spots and take advantage of some base-running errors by Saddleback in improving to 5-0 on the season. 

Santa Barbara scored five runs in the first three innings and two more in the fifth before Saddleback mounted a charge in the sixth.  The Gauchos loaded the bases with no outs, but only managed to score two times in the inning, still leaving them at a 7-2 disadvantage.  The final blow in the inning was a grounder to third by Cole Stanton for a force out coupled with a base-running error by Justin McSorley, who was thrown out trying to advance from first to third on the fielder's choice.

Saddleback mounted another charge in the eighth inning, scoring three times as Jack Kaloogian made it a 7-5 game with a single to drive in Dan James.  Unfortunately, that was close as the Gauchos would get as SBCC closer Kit Larson struck out two in the final inning for the Vaquero win.

Game two instantly had a different feel as Saddleback scored twice in the opening inning.  After two ground outs, Jared Donahue singled and Ryan Fitzpatrick walked to give the Gauchos a scoring opportunity.  A wild pitch by Santa Barbara and an error on the center fielder followed, scoring both players and giving Saddleback a lead it would never relinquish. 

The game remained close with Saddleback leading 3-1 headed into the bottom of the seventh inning.  The Gauchos then opened up a 6-1 lead, scoring on a flurry of mistakes by the Vaqueros.  After a one-out walk to James, he then stole second before Casey Worden drove him home with a double to left-center field to make it 4-1.  The roof caved in after that on Santa Barbara with a hit batsman, a throwing error, a walk and wild pitch...making the score 6-1. 

Worden added another insurance run in the eighth inning when he doubled to left field to drive in Fitzpatrick with the final run of the game.  It was Worden's second double of the game in a game that had just six hits total.

Jackson Rees (pictured) was brilliant on the mound, pitching six strong innings in silencing the Vaqueros.  Rees surrendered only on hit while striking out five in picking up his first win of the year.  Jordan Scheftz and Domnique Key combined for three strong innings of relief, giving up just one hit while striking out five.  Key was stellar in the closer role, striking out the side in the eighth inning and never allowing a base-runner in two innings of work.

Saddleback now stands at 5-1 on the season after the split.  The Gauchos will travel to Glendale College on Wednesday to take on the Vaqueros.  The first pitch is scheduled for 3:00pm.