Baseball kisses sister on Valentines Day

The Saddleback baseball team earned a split in the two-day series at Cuesta College with an 11-2 win on Saturday in San Luis Obispo.  The Gauchos exploded for seven runs in the sixth inning to open up a close game.

Saddleback made its annual trip to the Central Coast on Friday in what was supposed to be a two-day love fest against a Cuesta program that had just one win on the season.  Friday seemed to ruin the mood when Cuesta upended the Gauchos in a 3-2 win, forcing Saddleback to come back on Saturday looking for a new box of chocolates.

The Gauchos and Cougars looked to be locked in another close one on Saturday as Saddleback took a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning.  The Gauchos finally woke up by scoring seven times for an 8-0 lead, sending the locals home early with something other than Godiva's.

Saddleback had six hits and two walks in the inning, with Colby Schultz collecting two hits of his own in an inning that took nearly 45 minutes.  Schultz led off the inning with a single before Dylan Diaz doubled, putting runners on second and third with no outs.  After a Jared Donahue single to make the score 2-0, Dan James then walked to load the bases with no outs in the inning.  Cuesta then opted to change pitchers, but Saddleback wasn't in the mood to ruin the moment.  Casey Worden greeted the new pitcher with a two-run single, followed by a Brett Barker single and a Justin McSorley walk and the score was 5-0 with the bases still loaded.  Schultz (pictured) would eventually come to the plate a second time, delivering a two-out single to make the score 8-0.

Meanwhile, the pitching staff was solid as Barker made his first start of the season and looked in mid-season form.  The sophomore pitched 4.1 innings of two-hit ball before giving way to the bullpen.  The lone blemish in the game came in the seventh inning when Cuesta scored a pair of runs, taking advantage of three straight walks.  John Sheaks came on to pitch the final 2.2 innings, slamming the door with three strikeouts to secure the win.

Saddleback is now 7-2 on the season after the split.  The Gauchos will host San Diego Mesa College on Tuesday at 2:00 PM.