Cats to open against San Joaquin Delta
The Saddleback baseball team will open the California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) State Baseball Tournament on Saturday against San Joaquin Delta College at 6:00 PM at Mt. San Antonio College. The two programs have never met in baseball.
Saddleback is currently 31-17 overall and has gone 7-2 in the playoffs so far. The Bobcats defeated Orange Coast College (2-games-to-1) in the opening round of the playoffs before going 3-0 in the 3C2A Southern California Super Regional round against Fullerton College (1) and Los Angeles Valley College (2). Saddleback then defeated top-seeded Cerritos College in a best-of-three series (2-1) to advance to the state tournament. It is the second straight appearance in the state tournament for the Bobcats, who lost in the state championship last May. Saddleback finished in second place in the Orange Empire Conference in 2024 (12-9). Saddleback has won one state championship, winning the title in 2004.
San Joaquin Delta comes into the tournament at 34-13 overall and were the champions of the Big 8 Conference (17-7). The Mustangs have had it on cruise control so far in the playoffs, winning seven straight games. San Joaquin Delta swept Taft (2-0) in the opening round of the playoffs before winning three straight games against College of Marin (1) and Butte College (2) in the 3C2A Northern California Super Regional round. The Mustangs then took two straight games from Sacramento City College to advance to the tournament. It is the first appearance in the state tournament since 2019 when the Mustangs were knocked out by Sacramento City on the second day of the tournament. San Joaquin Delta has won three state championships in its history, grabbing the hardware in both 2011 and 2018 along with a championship in 1959 when it was called Stockton College.
Saddleback and San Joaquin Delta have no direct history, as they have never played one another in baseball. They have, however, played a couple of common opponents in 2024. Saddleback defeated Cerritos in the regional finals, who had beaten San Joaquin Delta (4-0) in early February. The Bobcats took 2-of-3 from Irvine Valley College (IVC) during the Orange Empire Conference schedule while the Mustangs beat IVC twice in mid-February (12-2, 25-2).
The two other programs in the 3C2A State Baseball Tournament are Santa Ana College and West Valley College. They will play the opening game of the tournament at 12:00 PM on Saturday. The official tournament bracket is listed below.
TALE OF THE TAPE (Saddleback versus San Joaquin Delta)
| BATTING | PITCHING | FIELDING | |||||
| Batting Average | w/state rank | Team ERA | w/state rank | Fielding % | w/state rank | ||
| SJ Delta | .327 (5) | SJ Delta | 3.94 (7) | Saddleback | .974 (7) | ||
| Saddleback | .293 (36) | Saddleback | 4.55 (14) | SJ Delta | .952 (57) | ||
| On-Base % | w/state rank | K's-per-9 | w/state rank | Caught Stealing | w/state rank | ||
| SJ Delta | .439 (5) | SJ Delta | 7.77 (34) | SJ Delta | .373 (5) | ||
| Saddleback | .389 (45) | Saddleback | 7.74 (36) | Saddleback | .222 (29) | ||
| Slugging % | w/state rank | WHIP | w/state rank | ||||
| SJ Delta | .500 (9) | Saddleback | 1.38 (9) | ||||
| Saddleback | .445 (27) | SJ Delta | 1.47 (17) |
RANKINGS/RATINGS
| COACHES RANKINGS | BY REGION | MASSEY RATINGS | STATE | |
| Saddleback | 6 South | Saddleback | 4 | |
| San Joaquin Delta | 6 North | San Joaquin Delta | 7 |
