Gauchos rally past Vaqueros for 9-0 start

The Saddleback baseball team is off to a great start in 2016 and on Thursday at Doug Fritz Field the Gauchos improved to 9-0 with an 8-4 win over Glendale College.  Saddleback rallied from a 4-0 deficit while the bullpen remained solid in the win.

Saddleback fell behind 4-0 in the first two innings as Glendale roughed up starter Cameron Aufderheide for four runs, with the big blow being a three-run second inning when the Vaqueros used a walk and three hits to put the Gauchos at a disadvantage.

However, as we have seen so far, Saddleback is the "little engine that could" in recent weeks, pulling off four straight come-from-behind victories during the winning streak including the one on Thursday.

Saddleback scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning when Luke Jarvis and Ryan Fitzpatrick led off with back-to-back singles and later came around to score on sacrifice fly balls by Jared Donahoe and Erik Voller, cutting the deficit in half.

Saddleback cut the lead to 4-3 in the sixth inning when Jarvis doubled to start the inning and later scored on a fly ball by Brandon Heinrich.  The Gauchos then struck for three more in the seventh to take the lead when Heinrich singled home both Jarvis and Kent Burckle and later in the inning, Fitzpatrick scored on a wild pitch.

Saddleback added two insurance runs in the eighth inning when Adam Gordon hammered a two-run homer to right field, giving Saddleback an 8-4 lead.

The Gauchos relied on great pitching from the bullpen during the comeback as John Sheaks entered in the third inning and pitched six solid innings.  Sheaks surrendered just three hits while striking out five in improving to 2-0 on the season.  Domnique Key mowed down the Vaqueros in order in the ninth inning with two lazy groundouts and a strikeout.

Saddleback rapped out 12 hits on the day, with Kyle Candalla, Burckle and Jarvis all collecting two hits apiece. 

Saddleback is enjoying the second longest winning streak to start the season in program history.  The longest streak to start the season was 17 games back in 2002.

Saddleback will look to extend the streak at home on Saturday when they host Chaffey College.  The first pitch is scheduled for 12:00 PM.