Bobcats win third straight

The Saddleback baseball team won its third straight game with an 11-4 victory over Irvine Valley College on Thursday at Saddleback Field.   It was the highest run output since late February.

Saddleback took a second straight game from inter-district rival Irvine Valley on Thursday, rapping out 13 hits and taking advantage of a number of defensive miscues from the Lasers.  The Bobcats never trailed in the game while getting back to within two games of .500 in Orange Empire Conference play.

Saddleback scored three times in the opening inning when Irvine Valley had some problems playing pitch and catch. Dmitri Susidko walked to lead off the inning and then Rodrigo Barajas was hit by a pitch.  The next batter was Jacob Beauchaine, who had a single to the left side of the infield that the third baseman tried to make a late throw to first base but threw wide, allowing Susidko to come home with the opening run of the game.  Later in the inning James Derflinger hit a ball back to the mound and the pitcher threw wild to third base in a potential rundown, allowing both Barajas and Beauchaine to score. 

Saddleback added another run in the bottom half of the third inning when Andreas Nilsen doubled and James Derflinger followed with a triple to give the Bobcats a 4-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Sterling Rapp started his first game of the season on the mound and silenced the Irvine Valley bats through four innings while the offense was building up the lead.  Rapp had eight strikeouts while giving up one hit in just his fifth appearance of the season before giving way to the Bullpen.

Irvine Valley cut the lead in half in the top half of the fifth inning, but quickly the Bobcats responded in the bottom half of the inning.  Saddleback scored three times in the inning, and once again got some help from the Laser defense.  Barajas and Nilsen had singles before Michael Walshe stepped up to the plate with two outs in the inning and delivered a run-scoring double to left-center field.  The next batter was Joey Doskocil, who reached base when it looked as if he was going to hit into a routine groundout but the ball was dropped by the first baseman, allowing both Nilsen and Walshe to score.

Saddleback led 7-4 heading to the bottom of the sixth inning when they finally put the game out of reach.  The Bobcats exploded for four runs, with the big blast being a three-run home run from Nilsen to take a 10-4 lead.  Saddleback sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning, collecting six hits in the inning.  Walshe would drive in the final run with a single to score Derflinger.

Saddleback had plenty of offensive stars in the game.  Derflinger finished 3-for-5 with four stolen bases.  Nilsen was 3-for-5 with three runs-scored and three RBI.  Barajas, Beauchaine and Walshe all had two hits apiece while the offense swiped eight stolen bases.

Saddleback used a collection of arms over the final five innings in Ryan Kepple, Jake Porter, Gabriel Fender and Joseph Norris.  Fender was credited with his first win of the season after pitching two innings of one-hit ball.

The 11 runs from Saddleback was the most since scoring 11 against Palomar College on February 25.

Saddleback is now 17-10 overall and 3-5 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Bobcats will finish the series on Saturday at Irvine Valley, with the first pitched scheduled for 12:00 PM.