Davinni with the walk-off
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Irvine Valley | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
|
Saddleback | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 2 |
The Saddleback baseball team kept pace with the leaders of the Orange Empire Conference with a 5-4 win against Irvine Valley College on Wednesday at Doug Fritz Field. Michael Davinni won the game with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Saddleback jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening inning when the Bobcats rapped out five hits to take an early lead. Isaiah Morales, J.C. Allen and Jack Collins all had run-scoring singles in the inning.
The offense went quiet after that as Irvine Valley clawed their way back into the game. The Lasers took the lead in the top half of the eighth inning when they scored a pair of runs for a 4-3 advantage. Saddleback quickly bounced back in the bottom half of the eighth inning, taking advantage of an IVC error to tie the game at 4-4.
Saddleback came to the plate in the bottom half of the ninth inning with a chance to win the game. The Bobcats didn't disappoint, with some help from the Laser pitching staff. Saddleback had two walks and a wild pitch to load the bases with two outs in the inning. Davinni then came to the plate and delivered a flare to center field for the 5-4 win.
Six different Bobcats had at least two hits in the game. Morales and Zachary Schwartzberg both had three hits apiece while Davinni, Jason Hefft, Cole Koniarsky and Jacob Naso all had two hits of their own. Saddleback had 16 hits and five walks on the afternoon.
Will Girardi started on the mound and looked good through seven innings of work. He spread around seven hits while striking out four before leaving with a 3-2 lead. Girardi had sensational defense behind him as the Bobcats turned double-plays in four straight innings at one point during the contest. Blake Butcher came on for Saddleback in the top half of the eighth inning and got the Bobcats out of a jam. He then shut down the Lasers in the ninth inning to improve to 3-2 on the season.
Saddleback is now 26-9 overall and 12-5 in Orange Empire Conference play. The Bobcats and Lasers finish the series at Irvine Valley on Saturday at 12:00 PM.