Larson smells rosy in win

The Saddleback baseball team received a sensational performance from pitcher Curren Larson in a 5-1 win against Cuesta College on Valentine's Day at Doug Fritz Field.  The Gauchos and Cougars will play the rubber match on Saturday.

Saddleback was coming back after a disappointing night on Thursday when Cuesta had 37 batters reach base in a 15-6 win.  The Gauchos provided a dozen roses to their fans on Friday, evening up the series at 1-1 as the Saddleback pitching staff struck out 12 Cougar batters. 

Larson was the star on defense, pitching into the eighth inning before giving way to the bullpen.  He gave up just four hits while striking out nine in improving to 2-0 on the season.  He eventually gave way to Ryan Lachemann, who breezed through the final two innings by striking out three more Cougars.

Saddleback picked its spots on offense.  The Gauchos scored solo runs in the second and third innings in taking a 2-0 lead.  Nation Wood provided the big blow in the bottom half of the third inning when he got a ball up in the jet stream that carried over the right field wall for a 2-0 lead.

Saddleback took a 2-1 lead into the bottom half of the fifth inning before scoring three more times to open up a four-run lead.  Wood singled home the first run with one out when he drove home Danilo Tiotuico with a soft liner to center field.  Alex Zerfass broke the game open when he tripled to right-center field to score both Wood and Carson Matthews.  It was the third of four hits on the day for Zerfass, who finished 4-for-4 with two RBI. 

Despite the heroics on offense, the day belonged to the pitching staff on Friday.  Less than 24 after a marathon game that lasted 3:47 on Thursday night, Larson and Lachemann managed to get through the Cuesta offense with very few blemishes as the Gauchos finished off the Cougars on Friday in 2:17. 

Saddleback (7-2) and Cuesta (5-4) will play the rubber match on Saturday at 1:00 PM.