Gauchos blank Lasers to keep pace

The Saddleback baseball team won its third straight game on Saturday with an 8-0 win at Irvine Valley College.  Sophomore John Sheaks was nearly unhittable as the Gauchos remained a game out of first place.

Sheaks was on his game, pitching a complete game shutout on Saturday.  The sophomore right-hander completely tied the Lasers in knots, surrendering just two hits on the day with one walk.  Sheaks struck out eight Irvine Valley hitters as only two Lasers passed second base all afternoon.  Sheaks is now 4-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.45 for the season.

Saddleback struck with two runs in the top of the third inning.  Andrew Wilson led off with a single and was advanced to second on a sacrifice by Kyle Candalla.  Wilson then reached third on a throwing error by Irvine Valley pitcher Ryan Abady and came around to score on a Kent Burckle groundout.  Luke Jarvis then singled and was doubled home by Jared Donahoe for the second run of the inning.  It was one of three hits on the day for Donahoe, who finished 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBI.  Donahoe is now batting .458 on the season with a .797 slugging percentage…both of which are in the top-5 in the state.

Saddleback tacked on four more runs in the fifth and solo runs in the sixth and seventh, but the day belonged to Sheaks.  He faced just 31 batters on the day, or four over the minimum.

Saddleback improved to 13-3 overall and 3-1 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Gauchos are tied for second place with Cypress College, one game back of Fullerton College in the standings.  Saddleback and Irvine Valley will resume the three-game series on Tuesday at Doug Fritz Field.  The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM.