Gauchos surge to 10th win

The Saddleback baseball team picked up its 10^th win of the season with a 9-2 victory over Grossmont College on Wednesday night at Doug Fritz Field.  The Gauchos trailed early before the offense kicked into gear.

Saddleback looked a bit off for three innings on Wednesday.  The Gauchos were down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning and didn't have a hit against Grossmont starter Jagger Acosta.  They managed to scrape across two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning despite not having a hit, which seemed to open the flood gates and energize the offense.

Saddleback scored three more times in the fifth inning and four times in the sixth, taking command of a game that two innings earlier seemed in jeopardy.  Dylan Smith led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a single to the left side of the infield to break up the no-hitter.  Then, with two outs in the inning, Saddleback had back-to-back triples from Danilo Tiotuico and Carson Matthews in taking a 4-2 lead.  The next batter was Izaiah Faz, who singled to center field in driving home Matthews for a 5-2 lead.

Saddleback scored four more times in the bottom half of the sixth inning, and again they did it with two outs in the inning.  After the first two batters were retired, Smith again energized the offense with a walk and a stolen base to put a runner in scoring position.  The Gauchos struck for five straight hits, chasing Acosta from the game opening up a 9-2 lead.

Tiotuico finished 3-for-5 with two runs-scored and three RBI to guide the offense.  Matthews and Faz also had two hits apiece as the Gauchos outhit the Griffins 11-5 for the night.

Saddleback's pitching staff had another solid outing.  Matt Comnos started the game and pitched through the fifth inning in improving to 2-0 on the season.  Comnos struggled through the first couple of innings before settling into a rhythm and striking out seven Griffin batters.  The bullpen was stellar, with Ethan Holt silencing the Grossmont lineup for three innings and Andrew Miller striking out the side in the top half of the ninth.  Saddleback pitchers finished with 14 strikeouts for the game, which was the second highest total of the season.

Saddleback (10-3) will be on the road on Thursday at Southwestern College.  The Gauchos and Jaguars are scheduled to start at 2:00 PM in Chula Vista.