Gauchos punish the Cougars in a near no-hitter
Evan Manarino pitching against Bakersfield (Sean Byrne)
The Saddleback Gauchos came out and set the tone in opening day of the Super Regional playoffs versus the College of the Canyon Cougars today.
In the best game pitched all year by the Gauchos ace Evan Manarino, the cougars could only get one hit compared to Saddlebacks 14.
“It’s one of those rare games where you got everything working,” Evan Manarino said.
Along with the lone hit he allowed in the last inning of play for the Cougars, he also struck out six batters.
“It was a great day,” Manarino said, “My slider was working really good.”
Along with the slider, the change up and fastball sent batters back to the dugout as well.
“Had a couple good change ups and kept them off balance which helped a lot,” Manarino said.
The players for the College of the Canyons couldn’t get anything working on offense or defense against Saddleback. Not only did the give up 14 hits with seven runs, they also managed to produce five errors.
“I don’t even think [Ryan Cruz] threw bad, but if it was a strike I just think everyone was ready to hit today,” Kyle Ferret said.
The Gauchos hitting really came into play during the third inning when they were able to put up three runs on the board. During the next three innings the Gauchos were able to knock in four more runs to make it a 7-0 game.
“I thought it was going to be a close scoring game,” Coach Sommer McCarteny said. “We were just ready to hit today.”
Statistically, today the Gauchos played their best game they have all season, with the quick three runs then padding the score with an extra four and on top of that Manarino pitching a shutout, everything was going their way.
“These guys are playing good baseball at the right time,” McCartney said. “It’s just working out.”
The Gauchos play Mt. San Antonio College on May 11, at 2 p.m. at home.
Manarino pitching on May 2 (Sean Byrne)
Brian Romero hitting it deep against Bakersfield (Sean Byrne)