Saddleback wins in a walk-off

The Saddleback baseball team defeated Golden West College on Tuesday afternoon, 9-8, at Saddleback Field.  The Bobcats scored the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth inning. 

Saddleback and Golden West battled for nearly four hours in a game that the teams combined for close to 400 pitches.  In the end, Saddleback pieced together three hits and a hit-batsman in the bottom half of the ninth inning to walk away with a win.

Golden West took a lead in the top half of the third inning when E.J. Barnes had a 15-pitch at-bat and on the final pitch hit a ball two feet over the wall in the corner of left field for a 2-0 lead. 

Saddleback battled back in the bottom half of the inning when it had its second biggest inning of the year and the best since the second game of the season.  The Bobcats scored seven times and did everything with two outs in the inning.  Dmitri Susidko led off the inning with a single and after James Derflinger flied out to center field was thrown out trying to steal second base.  Saddleback then sent 10 more batters to the plate, rapping out five hits while taking advantage of four walks.  Jacob Beauchaine opened the scoring when he doubled to center field to score Andreas Nilsen with the first run of the inning.  Following a walk to Rodrigo Barajas, Michael Walshe then singled through the left side of the infield to score Beauchaine with the tying run. 

Saddleback wasn't close to being finished as Joey Doskocil walked and Hayden Carlson singled on a sharp grounder down the line that the third baseball made a play on but couldn't make the throw in time to get Carlson, with Barajas scoring the third run of the inning.  Following a pitching change, Jake Tyler then singled to right field to score both Walshe and Doskocil as the Bobcats had a 5-2 lead.  Saddleback then scored a run on a wild pitch, allowing Carlson to cross home plate with the sixth run of the inning.  The Bobcats scored their final run following a Susidko walk when Derflinger doubled to left field to score Tyler.  In total, Saddleback sent 12 batters to the plate in an inning that took to 55 minutes to play.  

Golden West battled back, scoring five times in the top half of the sixth inning, thanks in large part to a couple of defensive miscues by the Bobcats.  The final blow was a two-run homer from Bryan Martinez to tie the game at 7-7.

Saddleback and Golden West went to the bottom of the ninth inning tied at 8-8 with the Bobcats getting an opportunity for a walk-off win.  Doskocil led off the inning with a single to right field and Carlson came up looking to lay down a sacrifice bunt when he was plunked by the pitcher to put two runners on base.  Tyler followed with a sharp single to right field, forcing Saddleback to hold Doskocil at third base with the potential winning run.  It didn't matter as Susidko followed with a little flare to right-center field that found green as Doskocil crossed home plate with the winning run.

Susidko ended up reaching base five times, finishing 4-for-5 with a walk.  Tyler was 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBI as Saddleback hitters finished with 14 hits and seven walks in the game.

Saddleback started Jack Gallison on the mound and he left after the third inning with his pitch count at 84.  The Bobcats followed with Kamden Cisneros, Jake Porter, Isaac Rodriguez and Andrew Padova out of the bullpen.  The pitching staff finished with 10 strikeouts in the game, including five strikeouts over the final two innings with the game on the line.  Padova (1-0) was credited with his first win of the season.

Saddleback is now 20-12 overall and 6-7 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Bobcats and Rustlers are now tied for fourth place in the conference standings following the game.

Saddleback and Golden West will resume the series at Golden West on Thursday.  The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM.