Bobcats stifle the stingers

The Saddleback baseball team picked up a second straight win against Fullerton College with a 3-0 shutout of the Hornets on Thursday in Fullerton.  The Bobcats used five different pitchers in taking the sting out of the Hornets.

Saddleback used a committee approach on Thursday.  The Bobcats started Trevor Eby (pictured below), who pitched four innings before giving way to the Bullpen.  Saddleback entered Dylan Blakey in the fifth inning and he got two outs before Ryan Cullinane entered the game with two outs in the bottom half of the fifth inning.  Cullinane would go 1.1 innings in picking up the win as a result of completing the fifth inning.  Tyler Byrns then pitched two innings before turning the ball over to Nathan Helman to pick up a save in the ninth inning.  All in all, Saddleback pitchers struck out eight Hornets while recording a second shutout of the season.

Meanwhile, the offense generated just enough hits to keep the Hornets (12-9, 0-2) winless in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Bobcats had two hits apiece from Jacob Naso, Michael Davinni and Zachary Schwartzberg. 

Saddleback took a 1-0 lead in the top half of the second inning when Jack Collins doubled home Jason Hefft for what would ultimately be the winning run of the game.  Davinni made the game 2-0 when he tripled in the top half of the fifth inning to drive in Naso.  The Bobcats then made it 3-0 in the top half of the eighth inning when Schwartzberg tripled home Hefft.

Saddleback is now 14-3 overall and 2-0 in Orange Empire Conference play following the win.  The Bobcats will host Fullerton in the final game of the series on Saturday at 12:00 PM.