10th straight win has Gauchos close to title

The Saddleback baseball team lowered its magic number to win the Orange Empire Conference to two on Thursday with a 12-3 win at Golden West College in Huntington Beach.  The Gauchos now have a three game lead with four games remaining on the schedule.

Saddleback trailed 2-1 heading into the top of the fourth inning when they scored two runs to take the lead.  Luke Jarvis doubled to lead off the inning and Jared Donahoe followed with a two-run homer, giving the Gauchos a lead they would never relinquish.

Saddleback scored two more times in the fifth inning to take a 5-2 lead.  Robbie Biehl and Dallas Dey led off the inning with back-to-back singles.  Two batters later, Kent Burckle (pictured) singled both of them home and the Gauchos were on their way.

Both teams traded runs in the seventh inning before Saddleback exploded for six more in the eighth.  The Gauchos sent 11 batters to the plate, rapping out four hits and taking advantage of mental miscues by the Rustlers.  Ryan Fitzpatrick doubled to start the inning and Biehl followed with a single to put runners at the corners.  Dey then reached on an error, loading the bases with no outs.  Another error followed by Golden West with Kyle Candalla at the plate, allowing both Fitzpatrick and Biehl to score.  Burkle was then plunked by a pitch, again loading the bases with no outs.  Jarvis followed with a single to score Dey and Saddleback had increased the lead to 9-3.  Donahoe followed with a sacrifice fly to run the score to 10-3 and Andrew Wilson finished off the scoring with a two-run single later in the inning.  In total, all six runs were unearned in the inning.

Domnique Key started on the hill for Saddleback and pitched into the seventh inning to improve to 5-0 on the season.  Key allowed five hits and struck out two before turning the ball over to Jordan Scheftz in the seventh.  Daniel Endsley pitched for the Gauchos in the ninth inning in a no-save situation.

For Saddleback (27-5, 15-2), the 10-game winning streak is the longest since the program won 17 straight games to start the 2002 season.  The Gauchos will try to make it 11 straight on Saturday at home when they finish the three-game series with Golden West (20-12, 9-8).  The first pitch is scheduled for 12:00 PM.