Gauchos blast Wolverines in marathon playoff opener

The Saddleback baseball team had a big day in the opening game of the playoffs on Friday at San Bernardino Valley College, beating the Wolverines 18-8.  The Gauchos had 21 hits while San Bernardino fell apart defensively, giving Saddleback a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

Saddleback (24-13) and San Bernardino Valley (23-14) combined for 37 hits and 10 errors in a game that lasted nearly four hours.  The Gauchos looked in command in the early innings, taking a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning.  The Wolverines battled back with one run in the fourth inning, two in the fifth, one in the sixth and a game-tying run in the seventh to even the score at 7-7.   

Saddleback would take a 9-8 lead into the ninth inning when the dam finally broke for San Bernardino Valley.  The Gauchos scored nine runs in the inning, sending 14 batters to the plate in a half-inning that took nearly an hour.  Saddleback had eight hits and two walks in the inning while the Wolverines committed two errors in turning a close game into a route.   The final two pitchers for San Bernardino Valley faced 11 batters and recorded just two outs as seven unearned runs came across the plate.

Despite the careless defense by the Wolverines the Gauchos were unstoppable on offense.  Alex King (pictured) finished 4-for-5 while Dylan Diaz and Brett Barker were both 3-for-5. 

Cameron Aufderheide started the game on the mound and was replaced by Jordan Scheftz in the fifth inning.  Aufderheide was victimized by careless play from the defense, but was clearly not on his game in giving up eight hits and two walks through four-plus innings.  After 1.1 innings from Scheftz, the Gauchos turned to Trevor Charpie who pitched into the ninth inning in picking up the win and improving to 3-2 on the season.  Kyle Goodbrand came on to finish the game in the ninth.

It was the most runs for Saddleback since scoring 25 runs against San Diego City last February.  The win gives Saddleback a 1-0 series lead over the Foothill Conference champion Wolverines heading into Saturday's games.  Game two is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Saturday at SBVC with a game three to follow, if neccessary.