Baseball wins fourth straight

The Saddleback baseball team won its fourth straight game with a 3-2 decision over Palomar College on Tuesday at Doug Fritz Field.  The Bobcats are now 5-1 to start the season.

Saddleback was looking for some level of revenge after Palomar knocked the Bobcats out of the playoffs in the regional finals a year ago.  Saddleback got some of it back, holding on for a hard-fought win against a talented Palomar squad.

Saddleback took a 1-0 lead when Ben Castelli (pictured) blasted a 390-foot homer to right field in the bottom half of the second inning.  Palomar battled back in the fifth inning when they scraped together a couple of hits with two outs in the inning to tie the game at 1-1.

The score remained tied until the bottom half of the eighth inning when Saddleback took advantage of some Palomar pitching woes to take a 3-1 lead.  The Bobcats had three walks in the inning and then scored the second run of the inning on a passed ball with the bases loaded. 

Palomar threatened in the top half of the ninth inning and Saddleback went back to the bullpen with two outs in the inning, clinging to a 3-2 lead.  Tommy Di Landri came into the game with runners on first and third.  He proceeded strike out Hayden Tregigda in four pitches, thus preserving the win and picking up his first save of the season. 

Michael Davinni and Isaiah Morales both had two hits apiece to lead the offense.  C.J. Zwahlen came into the game in the seventh inning and pitched 2.2 innings to pick up his first win of the season. 

Saddleback pitchers gave up just four hits the entire game while striking out seven.

It was the fourth straight game that Saddleback has not committed an error in the field.  The Bobcats have now gone 39 straight innings without a defensive miscue.  

Saddleback is now 5-1 for the year.  The Bobcats will host Southwestern College on Thursday at 2:00 PM, looking for a fifth straight victory.