Bobcats outlast Glendale

The Saddleback baseball team overcame a number of defensive miscues in beating Glendale College, 13-6, on Tuesday at the Saddleback baseball field.  The Bobcats rallied from a 6-5 deficit to improve to 8-1 on the season. 

Saddleback started slowly, committing three errors in the opening inning in falling behind 2-0.  Starter Jack Wade did his best to offset the errors, striking out eight in 4.1 innings before exiting in the fifth inning.

Jace Barajas came on in relief and gave up a couple of hits to start, but settled down while the offense kicked into gear.  Barajas pitched through the seventh inning and left after Saddleback scored four times to grab back the lead at 9-6.

Saddleback exploded for four runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning, slapping around four hits while taking advantage of a hit-batsman in taking a lead they would never relinquish.  The big blow was a two-run triple from James Derflinger that got up in the jetstream and landed just in front of the right field wall.  Rodrigo Barajas followed with a double to drive in Derflinger as the Cats took an 8-6 lead.

Saddleback scored four more times in the bottom half of the eighth inning in blowing the game wide open.  The Bobcats took advantage of some pitching and defensive miscues, as Glendale had two balks, two walks and two errors in the inning.  Jacob Beauchaine opened the scoring with a triple to score Rodrigo Barajas for a 10-6 advantage.  Ruben Rodriguez knocked in the final run of the game with a single to score Michael Walshe. 

Adam Roldan came on to protect the lead in the eighth inning and was completely dominant in mop-up duty.  Roldan struck out five Vaqueros in two innings of work in picking up his first save of the season.

Saddleback finished with 13 hits for the game as Dmitri Susidko finished 3-for-3 with two runs-scored.  Rodriguez reached base four times, finishing 3-for-4 with a walk.  Barajas (pictured) finished 2-for-3 with three RBI while Beauchaine was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI.

Saddleback is now 8-1 to start the season.  They will start a three-game set with Cuesta College on Friday, weather permitting.  The Bobcats and Cougars are scheduled to start at 1:00 PM on Friday with a double-header scheduled for Saturday.