Cats even series with Lasers

The Saddleback baseball team bounced back with a 9-8 victory at Irvine Valley College on Thursday in Irvine.  The two teams will face off in the rubber match at Saddleback on Friday in the final game of the regular season.

Saddleback was coming off one of the more disappointing performances of the season on Tuesday and was looking to bounce back against a Lasers squad looking to play the spoiler role.  The Bobcats used the long ball to hold off IVC in a slugfest.

Saddleback hit four home runs in the game.  Makani Tanaka broke out of a two-game hit slump when he blasted a ball over the left-center field fence in the opening inning to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.  Jacob Beauchaine hit a solo shot in the top half of the third inning as Saddleback jumped out to a 3-0 lead.  Bryson Hoier hit a ball over the left-center field wall in the top half of the fourth inning as the lead grew to 4-0.  Matthew Deutsch then led off the sixth inning with a solo home run as the Bobcats took a 7-4 lead.

Saddleback had to hold on for the win in the late innings as Irvine Valley wasn't going to go away quietly.  The Lasers drew within one run (9-8) in the bottom half of the ninth inning when Shaun McCaghren blasted a home run to cut into the Saddleback lead.  Ryan Seymour then silenced the Laser bats by retiring the next three hitters in order to secure the win in picking up his third save of the season. 

In total, the two teams combined for 29 hits and five home runs on the afternoon.  Beauchaine and Deutsch led Saddleback with three hits apiece while Kade Murray had three hits for the Lasers.

Saddleback moved into a three-way tie for second place with Santa Ana and Fullerton with the win. 

Saddleback and Irvine Valley will complete the series on Friday at Saddleback at 1:00 PM.  A win on Friday would secure a playoff spot for Saddleback in the 3C2A Southern California Regional Playoffs.