Gauchos sweep through Easter Classic

The Saddleback baseball team completed a clean sweep of the Sequoias Easter Classic on Thursday with a 5-2 win over Bakersfield College.  The Gauchos now stand at 18-10 with eight games remaining in the regular season.

Saddleback scored solo runs in the second, third and fourth innings in taking a 3-0 lead.  Bakersfield fought back with two runs in the fifth before the Gauchos scored two more in the sixth to ice the win.

Jack Kaloogian was the hero at the plate, finishing 3-for-4 with three RBI.  His single in the fifth to drive home Dan James proved to be the winning run as it gave Saddleback a 3-0 lead, which was all they needed.

The pitching combination of Eric Neeley and Trevor Charpie silenced the Renegade bats for most of the day.  The duo combined for nine strikeouts while giving up seven hits as Neely improved to 2-1 while Charpie picked up his third save of the year.

Saddleback improved to 18-10 overall with the three wins and during the three-day road trip and seemed to work out some offensive kinks that had plagued them in recent weeks.  The Gauchos are 5-8 in Orange Empire Conference play with eight games remaining, but just two games out of third place and five games back of conference-leading Orange Coast.

Saddleback will resume OEC play at home against Riverside College (18-10, 6-7) on Tuesday.  The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM.