Wolf leads Cats in battle

The Saddleback baseball team evened the season series against Palomar College with a 13-2 win over the Comets at Doug Fritz Field on Tuesday.  Damon Anderson Wolf had a great start for the Bobcats.

Saddleback was looking for a bounce back performance on the mound after a disappointing game on Saturday when they gave up 14 runs in a loss to Palomar in San Marcos.  The Bobcats got what they asked for, as Anderson Wolf silenced the Palomar bats while the offense was building up a comfortable lead. 

Saddleback pounced on Palomar early, scoring four times in the bottom half of the second inning to take a 4-0 lead.  The Bobcats had three hits and took advantage of two hit batsman in the inning. 

Saddleback led 5-0 heading into the top half of the sixth inning when Palomar finally scored a pair of runs to chase Anderson Wolf from the game.  The freshman from Aliso Niguel High School spread around four hits while striking out two before giving way to Jack Wade, who pitched the Bobcats out of a jam.  Wade was brilliant the rest of the way, going 3.2 innings and surrendering only two hits while striking out four in picking up his first save of the season.  Anderson Wolf improved to 3-0 on the season with the win.

Saddleback put the game on ice in the bottom half of the inning when they scored five times to take a 10-2 lead.  The Cats piled on three more runs in the bottom half of the seventh inning, highlighted by a two-run homer from J.C. Allen to left field.  For Allen, it was his state-leading ninth home run of the season and he now has 32 RBI for the season, which is tied for the state lead.

Saddleback hammered out 13 hits in the game, led by Makani Tanaka.  The sophomore from Iolani High School (HI) finished 3-for-4 with two runs-scored and two RBI.  It was Tanaka's second three-hit game of the season, raising his average to .429 for the year.

Saddleback is now 9-5 overall on the season with one game remaining on the pre-conference schedule.  The Bobcats will finish the pre-conference schedule at Glendale College tomorrow before starting Orange Empire Conference play next week. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 PM in Glendale on Wednesday.