Cats down Comets for fourth straight

The Saddleback baseball team won its fourth straight game with an 11-8 victory over Palomar College on Tuesday in San Marcos.  The Bobcats have one more non-conference game tomorrow before heading into Orange Empire Conference play next week.

Saddleback had to be patient on Tuesday.  The game started late due to a mishap in umpire assignments.  Then the Bobcats allowed Palomar to take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as the Comets took advantage of a walk and a pair of hits in taking the lead.

Saddleback finally answered the bell in the top half of the second inning when Bryson Hoier got the Bobcats even with a two-run homer with Robert Gray on base.

Saddleback trailed 4-3 heading into the fourth inning when they exploded for four runs in taking a lead they would never relinquish.  Joey Doskocil started the rally when he got hit by a pitch and later came around to score on a double from James Derflinger.  After a walk to Rodrigo Barajas, Jacob Beauchaine then eviscerated a ball over the fence for a three-run homer to give the Cats a 7-4 lead. 

Saddleback scored three more times in the top half of the fifth inning to take command.  Barajas opened the scoring when he singled home Doskocil and Dmitri Susidko with the opening runs of the inning.  Beauchaine then gave the Bobcats a 10-6 lead when he doubled home Derflinger.

Saddleback started Jack Wade on the mound and he pitched into the fourth inning before giving way to the bullpen.  Jace Barajas (3-0) came in and quickly silenced the Palomar bats, pitching through the seventh inning to pick up his third win of the season.  Sterling Rapp pitched the final two innings to pick up his second save of the season.  The trio struck out eight batters in the game.

Derflinger led the offense, finishing 3-for-5 with a walk to reach base four times.  Beauchine finished 2-for-4 with four RBI, including his fifth home run of the season.  Hoier finished 2-for-4 with two runs-scored and three RBI.

Saddleback is now 12-3 to start the season.  The Bobcats will play their final pre-conference game on Wednesday when they travel to San Diego Mesa College.  Saddleback and Mesa are scheduled to start at 2:00 PM in San Diego.