Sheaks and Gauchos look dressed to the nines

The Saddleback baseball team won its ninth straight game on Tuesday with a 9-0 win over Golden West College at Doug Fritz Field.  The Gauchos improved to 26-5 overall and lowered their magic number to three with the win.

Saddleback started the season 9-0 and now have a second nine-game winning streak on their resume after Tuesday.  The Gauchos received a stellar pitching performance as John Sheaks pitched seven innings of one-hit ball in improving to 7-1 on the season.  He gave up one single in the sixth inning and never allowed a runner past second base, facing just 26 batters.  Sheaks gave way to Chase Lyford in the eighth inning with his team leading 7-0.  Lyford pitched a perfect eighth before giving the ball to Eric Neeley in the ninth inning with the game well in hand.

Saddleback and Golden West were scoreless heading into the bottom of the fourth inning when the Gauchos struck for two runs.  Jared Donahoe led off the inning by reaching base on an infield error before Brandon Heinrich doubled to right field.  Andrew Wilson followed with a sacrifice fly to center field, giving the Gauchos the only run they would need.  Robbie Biehl drove in the last run of the inning with single to center field.  It was one of four hits on the day for Biehl, who upped his season on-base-percentage to .464.

Saddleback wasn't done, scoring five more times in the bottom of the fifth inning.  The Gauchos sent 10 batters to the plate, rapping out five hits and stealing three bases in the inning.  Luke Jarvis was in the middle of things, singling through the left side to make the score 4-0.  He then proceeded to steal both second and third base before being knocked home on a single by Wilson.

Saddleback tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning when Wilson tripled home Heinrich before scoring on a Ryan Fitzpatrick sacrifice fly.

Saddleback (26-5, 14-2) now has a three game lead in the Orange Empire Conference with five games remaining on the conference schedule.  The Gauchos will travel to Golden West (20-11, 9-7) for game two of the series on Thursday.  The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM.