Bobcats sweep Lasers

The Saddleback baseball team completed a sweep against Irvine Valley College with a 4-1 victory at IVC on Saturday.  The Bobcats are now back within one game of .500 after a 1-5 start.

Saddleback completed the sweep, and did it with pitching, defense and timely hitting.  The Bobcats have now won four straight games and moved within four games of first place with the win.

Saddleback took control early, scoring three times in the top half of the first inning.  Dmitri Susidko led off the game with a double to left center field and then with one out in the inning Jacob Beauchaine walked to put two runners on base.  The next batter was Andreas Nilsen, who has been red hot as of late.  Nilsen kept his streak going as he planted a ball over the right field wall for a 3-0 lead to start the game.  It was the second straight game with a home run for Nilsen and the fourth home run in the past six games.

Saddleback led 3-1 heading into the top half of the eighth inning when the Bobcats added an insurance run for a three-run cushion.  Once again it was Nilsen, who singled home Beauchaine with two outs in the inning.  Nilsen finished 2-for-4 with four RBI for the afternoon. 

Saddleback started Jace Barajas on the mound and he pitched six solid innings before giving way to Jack Wade in the bullpen.  Barajas pitched his way out of a jam in the fourth inning when the Lasers loaded the bases with no outs in the inning.  Barajas received some help from the defense when they turned a double play, allowing only one run to cross the plate.  He finished with five strikeouts in improving to 5-0 on the season.  Wade allowed just one hit and a walk over the final three innings in picking up his first save of the season.

Saddleback is now 18-10 overall and 4-5 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Bobcats have a three-game series next week with Orange Coast College.  The Bobcats will host games on Tuesday (2:00 PM) and Saturday (12:00 PM) while traveling to OCC on Thursday (1:00 PM).