Bobcats claw back to .500 to close out season

The Saddleback baseball team finished the 2021 season at 14-14 after a pair of wins on Friday at Fullerton College.  The Bobcats clobbered the Hornets 16-10 and 18-4 to finish at .500.

Things looked rough eight days ago when the baseball team was in the midst of a 10-game losing streak.  What a difference a week can make, as Saddleback swept the Hornets in a four-game series and closed the season on a high note.

Saddleback got into an ole fashion slug fest on Friday as the two teams combined for 48 runs in 16 innings.  The Bobcats did most of the slugging, scoring 34 times on 30 hits while capitalizing on 11 Hornet errors.

Saddleback scored six times in two separate innings in game one, battling back from a 4-0 deficit to capture the opener.  Four different Bobcats had at least two hits in the game, with Clayton Gott finishing 2-for-4 with five RBI.  Gott put the Bobcats on the board in the top half of the second inning when he singled home both Liam O'Connor and Turner Pruitt to cut the Fullerton lead to 4-2.  He later picked up and RBI on a groundout that brought home the tying run in the top half of the third inning.  Gott then put a stamp on things in the sixth inning when he drove home both Pruitt and Robert Wood for a 16-8 lead in the sixth inning. 

Andrew Herbert picked up the win in game one when he pitched 3.2 innings of work through the middle innings.  Herbert gave up one earned-run while striking out three in improving to 2-0 for the year.

Saddleback made quick work of Fullerton in game two, jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the second inning and leading 17-0 through 7.5 innings.  The Bobcats scored six times in the second inning and eight times in the seventh inning, wearing out the Hornet pitching staff.  Saddleback sent 11 batters to the plate in the second inning and 12 batters to the plate in the seventh in putting a big exclamation point on the season. 

Saddleback had four players with at least two hits in the game, with Lance Gardiner leading the way.  Gardiner finished 3-for-6 with four runs-scored.  Antonino Vultaggio capped off a solid finish to the season with his first home run of the season in the crazy seventh as Saddleback had six hits in the inning.

Saddleback received another solid outing from Rhys Stevens, who pitched through the sixth inning in improving to 4-1 on the year.  Stevens (pictured) gave up just two hits while striking out seven before the trio of Ethan Holt, Samuel Murphy and Tanner Ivey closed out the season. 

Saddleback finished the season in a tie with Irvine Valley College for fourth place in the Orange Empire Conference.