Baseball settles for Saturday split

The Saddleback baseball team split a double-header with Cuesta College on Saturday at the Saddleback baseball field.  The Bobcats are now 8-3 to start the season.

Saddleback used the long ball, pitching and defense to win the opening game of the double-header in beating Cuesta, 4-0.  The Bobcats then came up short in the late game, 3-5, in dropping the three-game series to the Cougars.

Saddleback had a mammoth home run from Rodrigo Barajas in winning the opening game on Saturday.  Barajas hit a shot that cleared the netting in right-center field and landed in the auxiliary parking lot and estimated 445-feet from home plate.  The homer gave the Bobcats a 4-0 lead in the bottom half of the seventh inning as the pitching stifled the Cuesta offense the entire game.

Jaden Sekhon started on the mound and pitched six innings before giving way to Adam Roldan, who pitched the final three innings.  The duo combined for seven strikeouts while allowing just five hits for the game.   Meanwhile, the defense cleaned up some sloppy play from the day before when they committed four errors in a loss on Friday.

Game two went to Cuesta as the Saddleback bats went silent in the second half of the double-header.  The Bobcats managed only four hits in the game and some timely hitting by the Cougars earned them a 5-3 win.  Barajas hit his second homer of the day and fourth of the season in the bottom half of the first inning to tie the game at 1-1.  The Bobcats made things interesting at the end when they put the potential winning run at the plate with two outs and two runners on base in the bottom half of the ninth inning.  Unfortunately, they couldn't come up with a hit and ended up settling for a split in the double-header.

Saddleback is now 8-3 to start the season.  The Bobcats will host San Diego Mesa College on Tuesday at 2:00 PM at the baseball diamond.