Bobcats swat away Hornets for OEC title

The Saddleback baseball team clinched a share of the Orange Empire Conference championship on Tuesday with a 14-0 win at Fullerton College.  The Bobcats have now won 11 straight games with two games remaining in the regular season.

The last time Saddleback won 11 straight games was during the 2016 season.  Oddly enough, the 11^th straight win that season also claimed a share of the OEC title.

Saddleback was worthy of its No. 2 state ranking on Tuesday, battering Fullerton in every facet of the game.  The Bobcats kept the pressure on the Hornets with relentless hitting, pounding out 18 hits while scoring in six of the first eight innings.   They also held Fullerton to just four hits on the afternoon in recording their first shutout of the season. 

Saddleback opened the scoring in the bottom half of the second inning when Lance Gardiner lifted a ball over the left field wall for a 2-0 lead.  The Bobcats would score two more times in the third inning and two more times in the fourth inning in taking a 6-0 lead after four plate appearances.

Saddleback blew the game wide open in the top half of the seventh inning when they sent eight batters to the plate in scoring four runs.  Gardiner led off the inning with a double, which was his third hit of the game.  He would later come around to score when Tyler DeClusin singled up the middle for an 8-0 lead.  Later in the inning Jordan Dissin singled to score DeClusin before a defensive miscue by Fullerton cost the Hornets two more runs. 

Saddleback added insult to injury in the top half of the eighth inning when they posted three more runs for a 14-0 lead.  Gardiner again started the rally when he walked to reach base for the fourth time in the game.  He would later come around to score his fourth run of the game on a double from Liam O'Connor for a 12-0 advantage.

Gardiner wasn't finished, reaching base for a fifth time with his fourth hit of the day in the top half of the ninth inning.  He would finish 4-for-5 with a walk and four runs-scored.  It was the second straight game that Gardiner has had four hits after going 4-for-7 against Golden West on Saturday, raising his batting average to .344 for the year.

Despite all the heroics on offense, Saddleback was also sensational on defense.  Dylan Singh started on the mound and pitched through the fifth inning in improving to 7-1 on the season.  Singh got into his only jam in the top half of the fifth inning when he gave up a hit, walked a batter and hit another to load the bases with one out in the inning.  He then got out of the jam with a short fly out to right field and a ground out to second base to keep the shutout intact.

Saddleback turned to the duo of Ryan Cullinane and Joshua Meekins to close out the game.  Cullinane and Meekins gave up two hits while striking out five as Meekins struck out four batters over the final two innings. 

Saddleback improved to 30-8 overall and 15-4 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Bobcats have a two game lead over Riverside City College with two games remaining on the schedule. 

The 30^th win marks the third time during the Sommer McCartney era that the program has won 30 games.  The last time was in 2018 when Saddleback won 33 games overall in finishing second in the OEC.  It was also the second Orange Empire Conference championship during the McCartney era, with the other coming in 2016. 

Saddleback and Fullerton will continue the three-game series on Thursday when the Bobcats host the Hornets at 2:00 PM.  The series will conclude at Fullerton on Friday at 2:00 PM.