Cats cruise past Jags for 6-0 start

The Saddleback baseball team improved to 6-0 for the season with a 12-2 win against Southwestern College on Tuesday at Saddleback Field.  The Bobcats have now won 10 straight dating back to last season.

Saddleback gave up a run in the top half of the first inning but wasted no time in rebounding.  The Bobcats scored five times in the bottom half of the first inning, sending nine batters to the plate.  The big blow was a double from Robert Gray that cleared the bases as both James Derflinger and Rodrigo Barajas scored on the hit and Jacob Beauchaine came around to score on an error on the relay.  Later in the inning Ruben Rodriguez doubled to left-center field to drive home Gray.

Saddleback started Damon Anderson Wolf on the mound and he pitched through the fifth inning in improving to 2-0 on the season.  Anderson Wolf finished with four strikeouts and no walks before giving way to a trio of other pitchers.  Evin Hollandsworth pitched an inning before Isaac Rodriguez pitched a pair of innings.  Min Joon Cho came on to pitch the final inning as Saddleback pitchers finished with nine strikeouts for the day.

Gray led the offensive attack, finishing 3-for-3 with five RBI.  He blasted his team-leading fourth home run of the season in the bottom half of the fourth inning with a pair of runners on base to give the Bobcats a 9-1 lead. 

Rodriguez also finished with three hits on the day, going 3-for-5 with a runs-scored and two RBI.  Beauchaine reached base three times, finishing 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs-scored.

Saddleback is now 6-0 to start the season and has won 10 straight games dating back  to last season when they captured the state title.  The Bobcats will look for a seventh straight win to start the season when they host Grossmont College on Thursday.  Saddleback and Grossmont are scheduled to start at 2:00 PM at Saddleback Field.