Bobcats take care of business
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Saddleback | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 18 | 1 |
|
Long Beach | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 17 | 2 |
The Saddleback baseball team advanced to the second round of the California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) Southern California Regional Tournament after an 18-8 win over Long Beach City College on Saturday at Doug Fritz Field. The Bobcats will host Glendale College and El Camino College in a three-team, double-elimination tournament starting Thursday.
Saddleback showed up looking like it was ready to play for keeps on Saturday, lashing out 18 hits in running away from the Vikings. The Bobcats scored in five straight innings, including a 9-run effort in the top half of the sixth inning to stretch the lead to 14-3. Saddleback would tack on another four runs in the top half of the seventh inning in blowing the doors wide open.
Saddleback's sixth inning took close to 45 minutes and saw the Bobcats send 13 batters to the plate. Saddleback found the long ball for the first time in seven games when Cole Koniarsky and Zachary Schwartzberg went back-to-back to end the slump.
Saddleback started Trevor Eby and he pitched into the fifth inning before giving way to the bullpen. Ryan Cullinane came in and pitched through the sixth inning to pick up the win. The Bobcats used a trio of pitchers in Dylan Blakey, Joshua Meekins and Blake Butcher in finishing off the game.
Michael Davinni and J.C. Allen both led the offense with three hits apiece. Davinni was 3-for-6 with three RBI while Allen was 3-for-5 on the afternoon. Koniarsky was 2-for-5 with three RBI while Makani Tanaka reach base five times with a pair of hits and three walks.
Saddleback is now 31-10 overall for the season following the win. The Bobcats will now host a three-team regional starting next Thursday. The opening game will feature Glendale College versus El Camino College at 11:00 AM. The Bobcats would face the loser of that game at 3:00 PM.
Glendale College advanced to the Saddleback regional by taking two straight games from Pasadena City College (4-2, 4-0). El Camino won two straight games against Mt. San Jacinto College (2-0, 13-3) to advance to the regional.