Bobcats even the series

The Saddleback baseball team defeated Riverside City College, 7-6, on Thursday at Doug Fritz Field.  With the win the Bobcats even the series with the Tigers.

Saddleback and Riverside City battled back and forth in what looked like a potential slugfest over the first three innings.  The battle turned into a pitcher's duel in the later stages, with Saddleback hanging on for a one-run win.

Saddleback took a 3-0 lead in the bottom half of the first inning when they tied together four hits in touching up RCC starter Julian Cazares.  The big blow was a two-run double from Robert Gray to score J.C. Allen and Ben Castelli for a 3-0 advantage.

Riverside City bounced back with a solo run in the second inning and three runs in the third inning to tie the game at 4-4 through 2.5 innings of play.  Saddleback responded with two runs in the bottom half of the third inning, taking advantage of some battery woes for the Tigers.  The RCC staff gave up three walks, two passed balls and a wild pitch in the inning and the Bobcats pounced on the mistakes.  Gray scored the go-ahead run when he crossed the plate on a wild pitch.  Jacob Beauchaine scored the second run of the inning on a passed ball to give the Bobcats a 6-4 lead.

From that point forward, both pitching staffs settled down over the final five innings.  Saddleback used a quartet of pitchers in Jake Porter, Jayden Graves, Dylan Blakey and Jacob Hudson.  The foursome gave up two earned-runs while strikeout out six in preserving the win.  Hudson (pictured) came on in the ninth inning to slam the door shut on Riverside City.

Allen (pictured below) led the charge on offense for Saddleback, finishing 3-for-4 with two RBI.  Beauchaine reached base three times, finishing 2-for-3 with a walk.

Saddleback is now 11-6 overall and 1-1 in Orange Empire Conference play following the win.  The Bobcats and Tigers will play the rubber game at RCC on Saturday at 12:00 PM.