Bats go silent in opener
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Riverside | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 5 |
|
Saddleback | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
The Saddleback baseball team opened the 2016 playoffs with a 5-3 loss at home to Riverside City College on Friday at Doug Fritz Field. The Gauchos will need to win twice on Saturday to advance.
Saddleback had the misfortune of playing another Orange Empire Conference foe in the opening round of the playoffs, a conference that has won 16 of the past 25 state titles. The Gauchos were facing a Riverside program that had won four of them, and didn't respond well.
Riverside took an early lead and built it to 5-0 through four innings. After retiring the first two batters in the first inning, Saddleback starter John Sheaks walked two consecutive batters and paid a price when Brody Weiss singled through the left side for a 1-0 lead. The Tigers had another two-out rally in the third inning capped off by a three-run homer from Garrison Cole. Casey Sheehan then singled home Garrison McKee in the fourth inning and Riverside had built a 5-0 lead.
Saddleback finally woke up a bit in the fifth when Brandon Heinrich started the inning with a single and eventually came home on a sacrifice fly by Dallas Dey. The Gauchos kept the momentum going in the sixth when Jared Donahoe reached on an error to start the inning and two batters later, Ryan Fitzpatrick blasted his sixth home run of the season to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Unfortunately, that was where it ended. The Riverside pitching staff went to its bullpen and they silenced the Gauchos. Saddleback had just two batters reach base in the final three innings when Heinrich walked to lead off the ninth inning and the Tigers then made a throwing error to give the Gauchos runners at second and third with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning. Saddleback was not able to capitalize as Kyle Candalla popped out and Kent Burckle grounded out to first base to end the game.
Saddleback (29-8) now faces an uphill battle on Saturday, having to beat Riverside (23-15) twice if they are going to advance to the next round of the playoffs. Game two of the series starts at 2:00 PM at Doug Fritz Field.