Gauchos baseball finishes regular season with three-win streak
Trevor Whyte races to third and eventually comes homes to score the Gaucho’s second run of the game. (Shannon Patrick)
Saddleback baseball has finished its regular season games with three straight wins. The Gauchos defeated Irvine Valley College 5-2, Golden West 11-4, and Orange Coast College 3-2.
After winning three straight games, ninth seeded Saddleback is heading off to College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita this weekend.
The Gauchos finished the season with an overall record of 27-17 and a conference record of 15-9.
Defeating OCC has caused a three-way tie for first place in conference between Santa Ana, OCC, and Cypress. Saddleback remains in fourth place.
Freshman right-hander Scott Myers received the win for the Gauchos after going eight strong innings against Orange Coast College Friday. Freshman left-hander Lars Liguori pitched the ninth inning, allowing no runs and striking out one.
OCC scored first in the third inning with a homerun by Rky Strokes.
All three of Saddleback’s runs came in the fourth inning. After a fly out by sophomore right fielder Jeff Montenegro, freshman third baseman Dalton Sype singled. Sophomore first baseman Trevor Whyte stepped up to the plate to single down the middle. Whyte’s single allowed Sype to advance to third base.
Designated hitter sophomore Nick McManus, hit a sacrifice fly out to center field, which allowed Sype to score the tying run. After Whyte stole second base, sophomore left fielder Josh Leite was hit by the pitch. Freshman Chris Mata singled down left field to advance Leite to second and scored Whyte to take the lead.
Freshman shortstop Darren Coombs hit a RBI single up the middle to continue the inning. Coombs single scored Leite and advanced Mata to second base. Freshman catcher Tyler Krobetzky grounded out to end the inning.
In the eighth inning, OCC came within one run, with an unearned run that was scored after Pirates third basemen Drew Hillman reached base on an error, which allowed the catcher D.J. Arellano to score.
This Friday and Saturday the Gauchos will face eighth-seeded Santa Clarita for a best-of-three game series. The first game is Friday at 2 p.m. The winner of this weekend’s match-up will advance to the Super-Regionals May 15-17. The State Tournament will be held in Fresno May 23-25.
Dalton Sype takes a swing just before flying out to the left fielder. (Shannon Patrick)
Scott Myers receives the win against Orange Coast College with three strikeouts. (Shannon Patrick)