Barker takes big bite out of Panthers

The Saddleback baseball team won its third straight game on Thursday with a 4-1 win over Chaffey College at Doug Fritz Field.  Brett Barker was the star on both offense and defense as the Gauchos improved to 9-2 overall.

Barker was dominant on the hill, pitching 6.2 solid innings in picking up his first win of the season.  He was also a catalyst at the plate, finishing 2-for-2.

Saddleback scored three times in the first inning on three hits.  Colby Schultz led off the inning with a single and immediately stole second base.  Dylan Diaz then walked before both runners advanced to second and third when Chaffey starter Merrick Patito threw one to the backstop.  Jared Donahue's sacrifice fly score the first run of the game before Barker singled home Diaz for the second run of the game.  The final run of the inning came when Casey Worden doubled to left field, scoring Barker.

The game remained that way until the sixth inning when Saddleback added an insurance run.  Barker was again in the middle of it when he started the inning by being hit by a pitch.  He would later score on a single by Alex King to make the score 4-0.

Barker pitched to one batter over the minimum for the first four innings.  He left in the seventh inning with a 4-1 lead before giving way to the bullpen.  Kyle Goodbrand came on to pitch the final 2.1 innings in picking up his first save of the season.

Saddleback (9-2) will play again on Saturday when it hosts El Camino Compton Center.   The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 PM.