Beauchaine’s walk-off single lifts Saddleback to dramatic 10-9 win over San Joaquin Delta

WALNUT – Jacob Beauchaine's ninth-inning single to right field drove in Ben Castelli, lifting Saddleback College to a dramatic 10-9 win over San Joaquin Delta on Day 1 of the 3C2A Baseball State Championships on Saturday, hosted by Mt. San Antonio College.

With the win the Bobcats (34-15) advance to Sunday's 2 p.m. championship semifinal game against West Valley College, which topped Santa Ana, 8-6, in the afternoon game. The loss sends the Mustangs (34-14) to the consolation semifinals where they will face the Dons to keep their season alive.

With the score tied at 9, Castelli led off with a sharp single up the middle, his fourth hit of the night. A sacrifice bunt by Makani Tanaka moved Castelli to second and a wild pitch moved the Bobcat leadoff hitter to third with just one out. Delta decided to intentionally walk power hitter, J.C. Allen (1-for-2, two runs, three RBI), setting up the game-winning hit off the bat of Beauchaine.  Matthew Deutsch went 3-for-4 with one run, while Rodrigo Barajas added two hits, including a home run, one run scored and three RBI for the Bobcats. Braeden Schnabel went 2-for-5 with a home run and four RBI for the Mustangs, while Dominic Rodriguez went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

On paper, it looked like a pitching-heavy matchup between Saddleback's Jack Wade and Delta's Logan Drummond. After a 1-2-3 start by Wade, Saddleback came out swinging and on the first two pitches, a leadoff double by Castelli and RBI-triple by Tanaka quickly put the Bobcats up, 1-0. A sacrifice fly by Allen brought in Tanaka to make it 2-0. Allen continued to show everyone why he's among the state's leaders in RBI by driving in two more in the bottom of third. After a leadoff single by Andrew Nykoluk and a double to right by Castelli, Allen found the hole between short and third and drove in both runners to put the Bobcats up, 4-0. Barajas quickly made it 6-0 when he launched a Drummond fastball over the right-center field fence, capping off Saddleback's four-run third inning.

Wade, who retired the first nine batters he faced through the first three innings, struggled in the fourth and the Mustangs took advantage with four runs in the top of the fourth. A run-scoring grounder by Grant MacArthur and a two-run single by Braeden Schnabel capped off the 10-batter, four-run frame. Wade managed to wiggle out of further damage with a bases-loaded strikeout to end the inning.

From there, both teams went back and forth, with Delta chipping away at the Saddleback advantage. Defensive miscues made things harder for the Bobcats as the Mustangs finished with nine runs on just six hits. Delta tied the game at 9 in the top of the seventh as three Saddleback errors helped bring home a pair of runs. Zachary Allegro (3-3) picked up the win in relief for the Bobcats, while Delta's Robert Orr (5-3) was saddled with the loss.

(Tony Altobelli, CCCSIA)